Posted: April 9th, 2009 | Author: Jeremy | Comments Off
The J. Paul Getty Museum has recently acquired a significant group of works by Chinese contemporary photographers. Minneapolis-based Alec Soth was just commissioned to create new works for the High Museum of Art’s “Picturing the South” series. And you (yes, you!) can choose the winner of the $50,000 Grange photography prize.
A gallery in Brooklyn gets brutally honest about economics and creates an affordable “discovery” show of new work. Sounds like a great idea to us! Meanwhile, the Canadian Museum of Contemporary Photography in Ottawa (holder of over 17,700 photos and 144,000 negatives and transparencies) is in a state of limbo about their future.
The Culture Monster section of the L.A. Times recently featured a piece about Paul Outerbridge and his tri-carbro-color prints (a time-consuming process not unlike making a CMYK MatchPrint for prepress proofs – ugh!) and a look at the new Annenberg Space for Photography, which they so far like quite a bit. A road trip to ASP coming soon? If not, at least check out the ASP website.
And we recently saw the passing of two noted photographers: Pirkle Jones, a contemporary of Adams, Weston and others and who created works focused on the West Coast, passed away in March. Helen Levitt, who hung around with Cartier-Bresson and Evans and produced a body of New York street imagery, passed away soon after.
The economic news continues on in bleak fashion and dealers say buyers are skittish in these times. Still, you can afford a little beauty in your life with a fine-art photo print from Viewville!
| Filed under: News | Tags: alec soth, annenberg, asp, chinese, gallery, museums, outerbridge
Posted: March 18th, 2009 | Author: Jeremy | Comments Off
Oh, the bad news around the globe continues, but before we mention any of that, check out this fun on-going project: The 50 States Project.
If you can’t beat ‘em, join ‘em seems to be working for some pro photographers that have decided to jump into the microstock image world. While we here at Viewville were inspired to create our namesake venture because of trends like microstock and falling prices for photo work, we cannot deny the trend and likelihood that this is the way the industry is moving.
Meanwhile, the decline at museums continues with the Getty Trust slashing budgets, layoffs at The Metropolitan Art Museum, and the Walker Art Center’s budget cuts. We hope this particular trend stops quick. After all, what better place to go when times are tough than a building full of inspiration?
Still, photography is remaining, and even growing, as a desired part of personal and public collections. Some galleries in NYC are even going to Cuba to show off a special exhibition. And the European Art Fair had a lot more photography this year:
Hans P. Kraus Jr., a New York photography dealer, was an addition. His booth featured seminal works like William Henry Fox Talbot’s “Ladder” 1844, one of his best known images, for $750,000, and Edward Steichen’s photograph of the back of a nude woman, “The Little Round Mirror,” from 1902 for $1.8 million. “We’ve been waiting to get into this fair for five years,” Mr. Kraus said. “So we brought a cross section of things starting with Talbot and going through to the beginning of modern photography with Stieglitz and Steichen.”
So, what can we do to beautify your surroundings with photography today?
| Filed under: News | Tags: 50 states, fine art fair, microstock, museums, steichen, talbot
