As a photo junky, I’m always interested in the works of the masters. The Ansel Adams and Jacob Riis’ of the world. That’s why I’m excited that Clickworker has the opportunity to take on the George Eastman House collection as our biggest pro bono project ever. Not only does George Eastman House hold collections from some of the most important photographers in the U.S., but also has become a go-to for international, historical, and documentary images from all over the world since the beginning of photography.

Nickolas Muray, Marilyn Monroe, 1952

Lewis Hine, Empire State Building Construction Worker Touching The Top Of The Chrysler Building, 1930

Though the extent of my own photographic experience has yet to go beyond vacation and cute dog photos, I can appreciate the scope, quality and documentation that the greats bring to the canon of photography. In short – photo museums are awesome. And what’s even better with this project is as our crowd of 120,000 clickworkers tag the more than 400,000 images, they become even more searchable and available online for researchers, enthusiasts, students – anyone! It is truly a perfect partnership to showcase our international services and, as a result, the world will have a more accessible visual library.

To get involved please register as a clickworker here.

My cancelled Baby Brownie stamp

I’ve always been curious how this arrangement began. A little research brought me to transcripts in the GEH library of a 1970s interview between Reese Jenkins (now professor emeritus of history at Rutgers University) and Kodak retiree Adolph Stuber. Stuber’s father, William G. Stuber, was hired by George Eastman in the early company days; he went on to be the company CEO after Eastman retired in 1925. Adolph grew up with Kodak and also had a distinguished career in the company himself, becoming manager of the Camera Works in the mid-1920s, then ending up as a company vice president in the sales and advertising department after WWII. It was Adolph Stuber who interviewed and hired Teague, then a fledgling New York City artist, to do facelifts on some of the cameras, as the old designs had become a bit dated. Teague became a design consultant for Kodak for the next thirty years or so. Many of the milestone Eastman Kodak Company products, such as the Baby Brownie (the first injected-molded camera made by Kodak), the Super Kodak Six-20 (the first auto-exposure camera), and the Bantam Special (the first Kodak camera with the f/2 Ektar lens) were Teague designs.

Super Kodak Six-20

Bantam Special

The success of the plastic Baby Brownie would prompt the company to produce more cameras of this type. Most Baby Boomers’ photographic experience began with descendants of the Baby Brownie, such as the Brownie Tourist, the Brownie Holiday, and of course the various Brownie Star models. One of the last cameras Teague was involved with was the Brownie Starflash of 1957; it was the first Kodak camera featuring a built-in flash holder. It was also my first camera.

We anticipate that PhotoHistory XV will bring some 150 visitor-historians drawn here by a rich selection of original papers that will cover old photographic processes, the development of the photo industry, the history of color photography and much more. Our speakers join us from five countries for the talks, which are a major component of the symposium. Registrants also participate in a Trade Show and Swap meet on the following day.

At previous symposia have heard from such notables as Beaumont Newhall, photographic historian and Director of Eastman House; Edwin Land, inventor of the Polaroid camera; and Steven Sasson, inventor of the digital camera.

The Photographic Historical Society, founded in 1966, is the first organized society devoted to photographic history and the preservation of photo antiques. This year, in a bid to attract younger historians, we are offering students free admission to the symposium. The 15^th PhotoHistory changes from a triennial event to one held every two years by popular request. As president of The Photographic Historical Society and general chairman of PhotoHistory XV,  I invite you to check our web site at www.tphs.org and to join us to meet historians, collectors, photo experts, and dealers from around the world.

Anthony Jones, London Taxis, 1998. One of fourteen photographs donated by London- based photographer Anthony Jones, that will appear in our upcoming benefit auction.

It’s not fashionable but it is classical and though bigger, brighter and more colourful images are in vogue now, like the fads of the past they will seem old before their time and the classic modernist work of Anthony will still seem relevant, significant and beautiful.

Working in black and white with a medium format camera, Anthony walks the streets of his native London looking for momentary juxtaposition of disparate objects creating a pattern that only black and white can reproduce. His image of a London taxi in front of the Bank of England holds both the motion and constant change of urban life and the solidity of tradition and steadfastness.

His work has the flavour of Paul Strand’s images of New York in the 1930s and of Bill Brandt’s London work a decade later. Anthony’s work comes from a long tradition of the lone photographer, walking the streets with his eyes open to the moment when balance occurs and an image can be made.

His work does not speak of today or yesterday or tomorrow. Instead they speak of the abstract patterns created by the momentary conjunction of objects and places in the modern metropolis. His images are quiet reflections in the midst of a noisy city. His images both define and belie the facts of modern urban life.

Editor’s Note:  Look for more in our 2011 Benefit Auction blog series leading up to the big event October 3rd.

Archivist Joe Struble (left) with Sarah and David Burton.

A view of images on the print rail.

Sarah Burton examines the royal family album.

The following details are from the album Famile Royal D’Angleterre, ca. 1863 (seen above). The images are printed by the van dyke brown process on silk (look closely and you can see the stiching and fabric folds).

 Queen Victoria

 Princess Louise

Princess Alexandra 

Prince Albert Victor 

 Princess Beatrice

Prince Leopold

View more of our The Photography Collection or browse selected sets on Flickr.

Alejandro Cartagena, Fragmented Cities, Santa Catarina, 2008

Photographing with a large format camera, Cartagena aesthetically references the topographic surveys of the American West undertaken by photographers such as Carleton Watkins, Timothy O’Sullivan and William Henry Jackson. Spurred by curiosity, economics and notions of “manifest destiny” these photographers recorded the majestic West before it became subjugated to the needs of private interests and expanding population.  Jackson’s photographs, in fact, were an inspiration behind the creation of Yellowstone National Park (America’s first) in 1872.

The stark contrast in Cartagena’s photograph is suggestive of his intent. In the image, a parade of identical concrete-block housing units march unrelentingly towards a magnificent peak. This progress, if we are to call it that, will inevitably contribute to the forces eroding the grand rock-face of nature, in Mexico and beyond.

Read more about Michael Itkoff’s publication Daylight Magazine and browse his Street Portraits series, one of which is featured our 2011 Benefit Auction.

My name is Tom Hoehn, a longtime member of George Eastman House. The current exhibit, Norman Rockwell: Behind the Camera,” (which, by the way, is just fantastic!) brought back a memory from my days as a kid in Rome, N.Y., that I wanted to share as guest blogger.

I was a fan of Norman Rockwell’s paintings, who wasn’t? As a kid I would write letters to people and almost 100% of the time I would get a
personal response. I couldn’t text them, “friend” them on Facebook, Google their address. I had to take a pen (or pencil in my case) to paper. My kids, who
can’t comprehend a world like this, wonder if dinosaurs wandered the streets of my hometown at that time as well.

I had a print of a Rockwell painting, his well-known self portrait, featuring him peeking around the canvas at a mirror. I had the idea of sending
it to him for a signature. Industrious kid that I was I put it in a mailing tube and carefully penned his name in his trademark block letter style hoping
to get his attention.  I addressed it “Norman Rockwell, Stockbridge, Massachusetts.” It had to find its way to him. I was a kid, what did I know? I also enclosed two $1 bills for return postage.

A short time later I got a response! Unfortunately, it was my print, unsigned, with a letter stating he was under contract and couldn’t sign
prints. However, Mr. Rockwell took the time to send me this postcard.

I also noted he hand wrote his return address on the envelope. Taking time to personally respond to a kid. What a guy.

I was happy because I got my requested signature! But that isn’t the end of the story. About a week later I got another envelope from Norman Rockwell, again with a handwritten address. Enclosed was the reminder of my $2 — in 13-cent stamps!

That’s just so, well, Norman Rockwell!

That was the feeling in the air at George Eastman House on Saturday, July 16, as National Endowment of the Arts (NEA) Chairman Rocco Landesman and Congresswoman Louise Slaughter toured Eastman House.

NEA Chairman Rocco Landesman, left, and George Eastman House’s Tony Bannon discuss the three-strip Technicolor process in the camera gallery at Eastman House.

Hosted by Tony Bannon, the museum’s Ron and Donna Fielding Director, the guests were shown the Speed Graphic camera that shot the Pulitzer Prize-winning photograph of the flag-raising at Iwo Jima, displayed alongside the image, as well as a NASA Lunar Orbiter, Lumiere Cinematographe, and a three-strip Technicolor camera that had been used on studio lots for many celebrated MGM films.

And this was all before Landesman and Congresswoman Slaughter took their seats in the Dryden Theatre to experience films from the Eastman House motion picture archive, restored with the support from the NEA. The selected titles included the oldest film version of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz (1910), an early sound film from Theodore Case (1925), screen tests from Gone With the Wind (1939), and a documentary directed by Paul Morrissey (1965).

Congresswoman Louise Slaughter, co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus, tells why it’s important to support the arts in Rochester and nationally.

Slaughter, co-chair of the Congressional Arts Caucus, is a longtime supporter of the arts as well as Eastman House, continuing to connect Rochester to the leadership of the arts in Washington, D.C. It for this tireless work the museum honored her with the inaugural George Eastman Medal of Honor in 2006.

The threads of George Eastman House are intertwined with those of federal agencies that serve the public, such as the Library of Congress and the National Archives. In this vein the museum’s collections and preservation schools and workshops have national and global reach and impact. But this, of course, cannot be achieved without support.

Both Landesman and Slaughter told local TV press how important it is to experience the country’s leading cultural organizations firsthand, in person.

“Film is a great art form, our cultural heritage, and right here is where it is preserved,” Landesman said. “Tony Bannon is a legend throughout the country for the work he does and we want to support him and George Eastman House.”

A private viewing in the Dryden Theatre of films from the Eastman House archive restored via support from the NEA. On the screen here is the oldest film version of “The Wonderful Wizard of Oz” (1910)

]]> http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/2011/07/18/experiencing-eastman-house-alongside-the-nea-chairman-and-congresswoman-louise-slaughter-2/feed/ 0 http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/2011/06/14/eastman-house-painted-with-color-this-week-with-kodachrome/ http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/2011/06/14/eastman-house-painted-with-color-this-week-with-kodachrome/#comments Tue, 14 Jun 2011 21:12:35 +0000 Dresden Engle http://blog.eastmanhouse.org/?p=4315 In just over a year’s time George Eastman House has been painted with large splashes of Technicolor, Colorama, and now Kodachrome, via three important acquisitions.

As the world’s oldest museum photography, the vast collections feature all processes and formats of motion pictures and photography. And the color collections continue to expand. The Technicolor corporate archive was formally acquired in March 2010, followed by Kodak’s gift of the Colorama archive – the images and history of the 60×18-foot images that dominated Grand Central Terminal from 1950 to 1990 –  announced in June 2010.

An elder from the Rubari tribe, from the last roll of Kodachrome, photographed by Steve McCurry in India.

Fast forward one year and the photographs from the last roll Kodachrome were donated to Eastman House on June 12, 2011. Kodachrome was the first commercially successful color film, and experienced a quarter-century of rich, unparalleled colors as well as a love affair with countless photographers. Kodachrome film was manufactured in various formats to suit still and motion picture cameras, and required a complex processing system.

When Kodak announced in 2009 it would no longer produce Kodachrome film, company officials announced two ways the famed film would be celebrated: 1) National Geographic and Magnum photographer Steve McCurry would be given the last roll off the Kodak production line and 2) the images from that historic roll would be donated to the archives at George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.

McCurry’s historic journey took him in 2010 to his hometown of New York City to western India and finally to Parsons, Kansas. That final stop was to the last lab in existence to process Kodachrome, which would close at the end of 2010, but not before developing his precious roll.

“I don’t think there’s ever been, in the history of photography, a better film, a better way to actually look at the world than with Kodachrome,” McCurry said. “This was the only way I shot for decades.”

McCurry spoke at Eastman House this week before a capacity audience, shared the 31 photographs he captured from the 36-frame roll — some frames were duplicate images — and told stories of his travels and his fears the roll would be harmed by airport security scanners. He talked with the audience and Anthony Bannon, the Ron and Donna Fielding Director at Eastman House, about celebrating Kodachrome. A color film process that lasted longer than any other, it was extolled since the Great Depression for its sharpness, archival durability, and vibrant yet realistic hues.

Dr. Anthony Bannon, left, and Steve McCurry with prints from the final roll of Kodachrome.

The subjects McCurry shot on the last roll include Robert DeNiro and photographer Elliott Erwitt, plus unknown people in various parks in New York City; McCurry in his hotel room in Parsons awaiting film processing; and in India – where McCurry noted “color is important culturally” and where he used Kodachrome’s magic to subtly render contrast and color harmony in depictions of Bollywood luminaries in Mumbai and the Rubari tribe in Rajasthan on the verge of extinction.

“I thought, ‘What better way to honor the memory of Kodachrome than to try and photograph iconic places and people?’ It’s in (my) DNA to want to tell stories where the action is, that shed light on the human condition,” McCurry said. He planned the trip, which he calls “a six-week odyssey,” for nine months. A crew from the National Geographic Channel followed him on his journey. That special has not aired yet in the United States but debuted this spring on European television.

Kodachrome was produced for 74 years, from 1935 to 2009, in a wide variety of formats, including 35mm slide film and 8mm movie film. McCurry used Kodachrome for his well-known 1984 portrait of the green-eyed “Afghan Girl” on the cover of National Geographic.

Kodachrome is appreciated in the archival and professional market for its dark-storage longevity, with colors remaining intact for decades. The early papers of one of the creators of Kodachrome, Leopold Godowsky, are held in the archives at Eastman House, as are many varieties of Kodachrome film in original boxes from several decades as well as moving footage, slides, and photographs, including the documentation of Sir Edmund Hillary’s history ascent of Mt. Everest.

“It’s definitely the end of an era,” he said of Kodachrome. “It has such a wonderful color palette…a poetic look, not particularly garish or cartoonish, but wonderful, true colors that were vibrant, but true to what you were shooting. It was the gold standard of imagery.”

Proof of its affect on popular culture, Kodachrome was the subject of Paul Simon’s song “Kodachrome” and Kodachrome Basin State Park in Utah was named for it, becoming the only park named for a brand of film.

Eastman House will present a display of projected images in early July and will mount an international tour of the photographs in 2012.

Renate Aller, from the series ‘Oceanscapes: One View, Ten Years’, 2008.  The photographer captured this Long Island viewpoint over the decade.

With an eye for detail and an accomplished technique, Aller knows how to capture the full chromatic spectrum of nature in all its breathtaking variety. In some images, there is an interplay of clouds and reflections on the surface of the water. In others, the roughened surface of the ocean transforms itself into a metallic sandy desert, a silvery moonscape, a glittering diamond field, or a crusted icy plane. It is the light, above all else, giving the images their powerful color and creating unique textures.

The ever-changing horizon in the individual pieces reminds us of the swaying amplitude in a piece of music. Aller’s ocean compositions appear to be visualizing the universal rhythms of life: ebb and tide, coming and going, life and death – an endless melody. She constructs mental images and raises sensory issues highly reminiscent of the ideology and concepts of the 19th century with her sublime oceanscapes. Something of the sublimity of the great romantic landscape paintings, especially those of Caspar David Friedrich clearly oscillates in her iconography of melancholy and silence. The absence of Friedrich’s familiar rear-view figure demands an even greater need for the active presence of the viewer.

Aller’s works present us with visual experiences of striking activity, in which landscape becomes the stage: nature performs it’s dramatic spectacle of life and death – everything  is in a permanent process of renewal. Her point of view is as well renewed at every moment. In her opinion it is unavoidable and necessary that humans adapt constantly and akin to their environment. Therefore she will, most likely, never stop the creation of these impressive images of the ocean.

Editor’s note: In conjunction with our upcoming Auction this fall , a series of  guest bloggers will be sharing an in-depth look at some of the artist’s works featured in this year’s event.  Read Auction Coorinator Olivia Arnone’s kickoff blog here.

George Eastman House returns to NYC to host benefit auction this fall

With the success of our 2010 Auction and the need to be find creative, proactive ways to fundraise, we had to ask ourselves, how could we NOT? Last year’s online and live auctions featured more than 300 photographs, books and cameras donated by artists, collectors and dealers, and ultimately raised more than $650,000— constituting the largest fundraiser in our museum’s history. Thank you so much to all of you out there who helped support the auction by contributing or bidding, or even just spreading the word. Every bit of participation has helped maintain our collections, educational programs and Landmark museum site— ensuring the continued preservation of these works for years to come.

What is in store for our 2011 Auction, you ask?

Our live auction and reception will be held Monday, Octg. 3 at Metropolitan Pavilion in New York City’s Chelsea neighborhood, a Mecca of art galleries, museums, restaurants, boutiques and markets. Denise Bethel, Senior Vice President and Director of Photographs at Sotheby’s, New York will once again bring vigor and grace to the event as our auctioneer. Accompanying the live auction at 7 p.m., there will be an online auction, a two-day preview exhibition, and a series of conversations with artists to kick off the event beginning on Sunday, Oct. 2.

So far, more than 175 artists, dealers and collectors have agreed to participate. Among the offerings are works by veterans of photography like Vik Muniz, Barbara Morgan, Larry Towell, George Tice, Carl Chiarenza, and F.C Gundlach, as well as works by mid-career and emerging artists- Brian Ulrich, Roger Eberhard and Doug Menuez, to name a few. There will also be another Kodak Colorama up for bid in the live auction!

In the coming months I will be bringing you updates and highlights, and will also be inviting guest bloggers to talk in depth about some of the artist’s works featured in this year’s auction. In closing, and until my next post, here is a sneak peek of a work by one of our 2011 contributing artists:

Amy Stein, Threat from the series “Domesticated”, 2005

Lewis W. Hine, NEIL DOHERTY, ca. 1931

Lewis W. Hine, GROUP OF WORKERS, EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, ca. 1931

Lewis W. Hine, ICARUS ATOP EMPIRE STATE BUILDING, 1931

View more Lewis Hine images of the Empire State Building and from this era documenting Ellis Island, Child Labor, and the Industrial Age.

We made the first batch of carbon tissues using casting frames, coating rods and our fingers so that everyone had the experience of trying different ways to make the tissues. After everyone made their initial exposure tests and first prints we made two new color batches of pigmented gelatin and prepped other support material; watercolor paper and glass.

David Developing Carbon

Drying Tissues

‘John Deere tractor’ Green Orotone

My demo in action

One of the colors that came from this freedom of extra time was a sort of John Deere tractor green. We also made a lovely cool blue tissue. One of the participants wanted to make a carbon transparency on glass and at the time thought he had chosen the blue tissue. He was really surprised when we turned on the white lights during the development and saw that his beautifully made transfer was actually green. When the plate was dry I held a sheet of bronze coated paper behind the image so the group could see how it would look as an orotone. The green wasn’t so bad.

Unidentified Photographer
FORT SUMTER SHOWING THE EFFECTS OF THE BOMBARDMENT BY THE ARTILLERY OF THE ARMY
& NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES WHILE OCCUPIED BY THE REBELS FROM APRIL 1861 TO FEBRUARY 1865, ca. 1865, Albumen print
 

Unidentified Photographer

FORT SUMTER SHOWING THE EFFECTS OF THE BOMBARDMENT BY THE ARTILLERY OF THE ARMY & NAVY OF THE UNITED STATES WHILE OCCUPIED BY THE REBELS FROM APRIL 1861 TO FEBRUARY 1865, ca. 1865,  Albumen print

The tale of the American Civil War has been told thousands of times. Historians,
both academic and amateur, have delved into the past to understand just how
the Confederate States of America decided to secede from the Union to form an
independent country, and how, in response, the Union eventually quashed their
attempts. Our current exhibition considers photography and its relationship to the War Between the States.
The George Eastman House collection holds over 1,100 photographs related to
the civil war, a modest number in relation to national standards. The strengths of this collection are some unique items, including a series of photographs found in a United States Postal Service dead letter office, several portraits of Confederate officers aboard the C.S.S. Alabama, and an album assembled to commemorate the assassination of President Abraham Lincoln. In addition, items such as Alexander Gardner’s Photographic Sketch Book of the War provide extensive holdings of war-related scenes and landscapes.
It is estimated that over 620,000 soldiers died during the American Civil War
along with countless civilians. This remains the highest number of deaths for
American soldiers in any war. Photography played an important role in bringing this sobering reality to the public as, for the first time in history, photographers
showed the dead that remained on battlefields, and publishers had the ability to
reproduce these images in quantity. In addition, images showing the destruction
of cities, new American heroes, and arsenals of troops filled the pages of popular
journals such as Harper’s Weekly and Humphrey’s Journal.
Photography was still in the early stages of its invention. Therefore, many photographers were new to their craft and as the war raged on, photographic supplies were sometimes expensive and hard to come by. In addition, the existing processes could not capture the chaos of battle, with the cannons flaring and men fighting in combat.
Now at the sesquicentennial of these events, the stillness of what remains in these photographed scenes resonates in American minds. Destruction, struggle, and loneliness are evoked by the haunting, empty scenes, but we may also perceive an impression of valor in a young face, a sense of patriotism for a chosen side, a feeling of dignity in the face of death.

The three-minute reel, which archivists estimate was filmed in 1861 or 1862, reveals an active battlefield as well as behind-the-scenes footage of Union soldiers in encampments and marching in formation.

After finding the unmarked reel and after determining its authenticity, Eastman House contacted filmmaker Ken Burns. He plans to visit the museum immediately to begin research.

“This moving footage would have significantly enhanced my Civil War documentary,” said filmmaker Ken Burns, who earned an Emmy® Award for his nine-part documentary The Civil War (1990), which featured thousands of still photographs. “We are seriously considering opening up the film to include this priceless new material.”

Eastman House preservation staff has painstakingly created digital scans of the rare and fragile footage, allowing for the creation of online video.

Click on the video link below to be among the first to witness history – the first motion pictures ever captured of the Civil War!