We Hear from Keith Davis

It's always a treat for me when we hear from one of the people we've written about. I got a comment yesterday from Keith F. Davis, the curator who's responsible for the book The Photographs of Ray K. Metzker. I've added his comment to the original review.

If you'd like to know a little more about him, here's a brief article (too brief) called "Collectors' Roundtable: Keith F. Davis on Collecting Photographs." And here's his short-take bio:

Keith F. Davis received his B.S. degree in Cinema and Photography from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale (1974), and his M.A. (1979) in the History of Art from the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque. He has curated more than 70 exhibitions from the Hallmark art and photography holdings—shows seen in over 300 individual  bookings in leading museums across the U.S., and in Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Great Britain, France, Spain, and Switzerland. He became the founding curator of photography at the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in January 2006, following the gift of the Hallmark Photographic Collection to the museum.

Curators are, to a greater or lesser extent, institutional collectors. How great a job is that? After John Szarkowski retired from the Museum of Modern Art, he was hired to curate photographs for the PaineWebber Art Collection. He used to call me every so often (I'm sure as just one of a large network of contacts) to see if I could recommend any photographs or photographers he might be interested in. I'm pleased to report that three of the photographers I recommended to him sold work to the PaineWebber collection, including one who'd never sold any prints before. (My brush with institutional collecting.)

I told Keith we'd sold 52 copies of the book through our links, but that was wrong. Actually, 52 copies have been shipped: we cleaned out Amazon's stock. Another 68 copies were ordered that haven't been shipped yet.

I'd be interested in what others think of the book, if by chance you're one of the ones who bought one, and if you've received it already.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2012 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site.
A book of interest today:

(To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below.)
Featured Comments from:

Ken Tanaka: "As Mike opined, the book is a winner: 'Not only is it the ideal Metzker retrospective, it's an exemplary photographic monograph, with a substantial, insightful text and superb plates, presented in a robust but no-nonsense, no-pretenses manner.' I can't say it any better. Keith Davis has produced a superb retrospective on Metzker. Having seen lots of Metzker's prints I can also report that the book's plates are spot-on. If you want to get one book that neatly packages one of the great 20th century photographic artists look no further."

Larry: "I am fortunate to live a few blocks from the Nelson-Atkins Museum and have seen many exhibits curated by Keith Davis over the years. First when he was with Hallmark and more recently at the Nelson. They have all been superb. He and his staff are to be commended for the excellent exhibits they have been putting on in the new dedicated photography space in the Bloch addition at the Nelson.

"I want to alert midwest TOP readers of their current show which is a retrospective of Terry Evans. It is an amazing show and will be there through January 20th. It is well worth a trip to the Nelson. Just as important to readers not in the vicinity is the Evans book produced for the show, which is equal to the Metzker book in every way."

Comments

[Jeff]

Shortly after purchasing a print from a NY photo dealer in the early 90's, the dealer called me to ask if I would reconsider and sell back the photo since Keith was interested in it for the Hallmark collection. I was torn, but politely declined when the dealer let me off the hook, saying that doing so wasn't really expected. I've never spoken with Keith, but the photo reminds me of that interaction and our shared photo appreciation. On that basis, perhaps I should check out the Metzker book.

[David]

What's with this blog? I mean, don't you write about anything else besides photography? How about a few blogs entries about parachuting? agriculture and it's relationship to nudism? how about BLT's? Those are excellent sandwiches.

[Kevin Bourque]

Not for posting here:

I wonder if this will ever be more than vaporware. Who know if it could possibly be practical.

http://www.engadget.com/2012/12/18/nikon-patents-digital-sensor-back-for-35mm-film-cameras/

[ctein]

Dear David,

Clearly you don't read my columns.

I am crushed. My fragile ego may never recover.

pax / Ctein

P.S. Oh, all better now. Never mind.