POI Persons of Interest by NYU Photography & Imaging

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4 Abbott, Bernice, 8 Ailey, Alvin 12 Albers, Annie 6 Antonioni, Michelangelo 20 Avedon, Richard 24 Baldwin, James 28 Barragon, Louis 32 Basho, Matsuo 36 Bass, Saul & Elaine 40 Battaglia, Letizia 44 Brodovitch, Alexy 48 Cage, John 52 Cohen, John 56 Cole, Teju 60 deCarava, Roy 64 Delauney, Sonia 68 Didion, Joan 72 Do Amaral, Tarsila 76 Faurer, Louis 80 Freidlander, Lee 84 Godard, Jean-Luc 88 Hadid, Zaha 92 Kalman, Maira 96 Keita, Seydou 100 Kent, Sister Corita 104 Khalo, Frida 108 Kingelez, Bodys Isek 112 Kruger, Barbara 116 Kurosawa, Akira 120 Levitt, Helen 124 Licko, Zuzana 128 Magnani, Anna 132 Meiselas, Susan 136 Model, Lisette 140 Morrison, Toni 144 Neshat, Shirin 148 Nogusch, Isamu 152 O'Keefe, Georgia 156 Pellegrin, Paolo 160 Penn, Irving 164 Peress, Gilles 168 Piano, Renzo 172 Plachy, Sylvia 176 Reed, Eli 182 Riley, Bridget 186 Rodchenko, Alexander 190 Stein, Gertrude 194 Stepanova, Varvara 198 Tharp, Twyla 202 Truffaut, Francoise 204 Varda, Agnes 206 Vignelli, Massimo 210 Vreeland, Diana 214 Walala, Camille 218 Weems, Carrie Mae 222 Wermuller, Lina

PHOTOGRAPHER

erenice Abbott was an American

is also recognized for bringing international

photographer who worked during the Social

attention to French Photographer Eugène

realism period, best known for her photo-

Atget, who would later heavily influence

graphs of New York City during the 1930s.

Abbott’s photography. She fell in love with

Abbott was born on July 17, 1898, and died

the art of photographer under the guidance

on December 9, 1991 in Monson, Maine. She

of Man Ray, and eventually made a name

was primarily recognized for her portraits of

for herself as one of the most independent

between-the-wars 20th century cultural fig-

and dedicated portrait photographers of the

ures, as well as her photographs of New York

time. Abbott is also credited for have de-

City archirecture between the 1940s and

signed a special lighting process, which she

1960s. Born in Ohio, she later attended the

name Projection Photography. She was just

Ohio Srate University but dropped out after

as dedicated to invention and science as she

a short two semesters. Following this, she

was to photography, and believed that we

took a trip to Europe and furthered pursued

live in a world made by science. Today, many

her artistic studies in theatre and sculpture

of Abbott’s portraits and photographs of

at the Académie de la Grande Chaumiere in

New York City, old Paris, and more, has been

Paris and the Prussian Academy of Arts in

published in a variety of esteemed publica-

Berlin. During this time, she also worked in

tions such as Vanity Fair, the Saturday Eve-

Paris as a darkroom assistant for American

ning Post, and Fortune.

Surrealist photographer Man Ray in 1921, and

SERIES OF PORTRAITS BY BERENICE ABBOTT

BERENICE ABBOTT

DANCER

ALVIN AILEY

rowing up black in the segregated town of Rogers, Texas in the midst of the Great Depression, American dancer and activist Alvin

Ailey knew firsthand what it meant to be ostracized from society. Seeking sanctuary from harsh discrimination, Ailey turned to church, writing, and dance. Upon moving to Los Angeles in 1946, Ailey had his first experience with concert dance the Los Angeles Philharmonic Auditorium. This concert initiated his journey with dance but it wasn’t until he joined Lestor Horton dance studio three years later, that he became serious about it. After pursuing academia at university, Ailey returned to the Horton studio, taking over as director and choreographer, eventually founding the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater in 1958. The theater provided otherwise inaccessible opportunity for black artists to express the Black American experience through dance. The trauma endured in his youth due to racism served as the backbone for much of his life’s work, including his most acclaimed piece, Revelations, which drew directly frotm vivid memories of the things he turned to in seeking solace; church, blues, and spirituals. Aliey struggled with the labeling of the theater as “ethnic” rather than “modern.” This propaganda was a direct example of the way black artists were treated at the time. Today, the AAADT continues to serve as an outlet for black artists as well as a celebration of the black experience.

ALVIN AILEY, ELLA THOMPSON MOORE, AND MYRNA WHITE IN “REVELATIONS,” 1961

LEFT: ALVIN AILEY PHOTOGRAPHED BY JACK MITCHELL • RIGHT: “REVELATIONS”

TEXTILE DESIGNER

ANNI ALBERS

she settled for weaving. Justly reluctant at the start due to the

o work with threads [seems]

sexist exclusion and prohibition

sissy to me. I [want] something to

of women from studying any oth-

be conquered,” a statement once

er disciplines as they were solely

assertively

the

reserved for men, Albers grew

now most innovative and widely

fond of this tangible contriving.

revered textile artist, Anni Albers.

Under the instruction of Gunta

Being the child of a furniture mak-

Stolzl, she became conscious and

er growing up in a family with ties

responsive of this type of design-

to the publishing industry, Albers

ing. Albers went on to experiment

was practically bred to create art.

with functionality, such as sound

Her former years spent study-

absorption, minimized wrinkling,

ing under impressionist painter

and durability. She crafted inno-

Martin Brandebburg, would only

vative and

solidify this destiny. She would

got her the first ever solo exhibi-

eventually go on to study art at

tion of textile at the MoMA. She

Brauhaus University under the

then developed mass-producible

tutelage of George Muche and

designs and later began exper-

then Johannes Itten. After try-

imenting with print media. As a

ing and failing to gain admission

teacher she always encouraged

into her first choice workshops,

experimenting and never stopped

unique designs that

experimenting in her own work. It’s one of the many reasons why her work is so admired today.

ANNI ALBERS, SYMYRA-KNUPFTEPEICH, CONNECTIONS, 1983

proclaimed

14 ANNI ALBERS, CONNECTIONS 1983 THE JOSEF AND ANNI ALBERS FOUNDATION

FILM DIRECTOR

ichalangelo

An-

tonioni was an Italian film director, best known for his “trilogy on modernity and its discontents” - L’Avventura (1960), La Notte (1961), and L’Eclisse (1962). His films have been described as “enigmatic and intricate mood pieces” featuring elusive plots, striking visuals, and a preoccupation with modern landscapes. His work subsequently greatly influenced art cinema. Antonioni began developing his unique style in the process of working on Le Amiche: instead of a conventional narrative, he presented a series of apparently disconnected events, and he used shots that last longer than the conventional editing pace called long takes. These new techniques were later perfected in L’avvetura, which became his

first

international

Michelangelo

success.

Antonioni’s

work

can also be described as having 16

a clear and strong composition. His frames are usually set in a way that there are vertical or diagonal lines that create dynamism. When interviewed about one of his films, Red Desert, Antonioni clarified that he champions image and design over character and story: “My intention… was to translate the poetry of the world, in which even factories can be beautiful. The line and curves of factories and their chimneys can be more beautiful than the outline of trees, which we are already too accustomed to seeing”. However, it would be wrong to assume that the director was fixated on the

visuals:

Antonioni’s

plots,

though ambiguous, do reveal the intricate personalities of his characters who suffer from such disorders as desperation, emotional deprivation, or the feeling of lack of purpose.

“L’AVVETURA”, 1960 (FRAME FROM THE MOVIE).

MICHELANGELO ANTONIONI

LEFT: “LA NOTTE”, 1961 (FRAME FROM THE MOVIE); RIGHT: “L’AVVETURA”, 1960 (FINAL SCENE).

PHOTOGRAPHER

RICHARD AVEDON

to him becoming the chief photographer at Harper’s Bazaar. Avedon also contributed his orn in 1923 in New

images to Life, Look, Vogue, and

York City, Richard Avedon found

Graphis. Often shooting outside

an interest in photography

of studios, much of his work

early on, joining the Young

focused on the emotion of the

Men’s Hebrew Association

subject rather than the lifeless

(YMHA) camera club at 12

standards of the time.

years old. Avedon attended

Avedon then went on to work at

DeWitt Clinton High School in

Vogue as a staff photographer

the Bronx, where he co-edited

for Diana Vreeland, where he

the school’s literary magazine,

would work for 20 years. Next

The Magpie, alongside writer

was The New Yorker, where he

James Baldwin. Avedon dropped

was the first staff photographer,

out of Columbia University

helping to guide the look of the

after one year, becoming an

magazine. Avedon is known for

identification photographer for

his commercial photography,

the Merchant Marines with a

but also his depicted subjects

Rolleiflex camera from his father.

such as the American Civil

After two years, in 1944, Avedon

Rights movement and the

began to study photography

Vietnam war. Since 1962, many

with Alexey Brodovitch at his

museum exhibits have been

Design Laboratory at The New

held to showcase Avedon’s

School for Social Research.

work, including the Metropolitan

Brodovitch, who was the art

Museum of Art and the Whitney

director for Harper’s Bazaar,

Museum of American Art.

AVEDON REVIEWING PRINTS

endorsed Avedon’s work, leading

RICHARD AVEDON, CYD CHARISSE, NEW YORK, 1961 (LEFT), RICHARD AVEDON, TWIGGY, NEW YORK, 1967 (RIGHT)

AUTHOR

JAMES BALDWIN

orn August 2nd, 1924, James Baldwin

is an American Author, Essayist, Playwright, and activist. A poor childhood, in both wealth and home life, Baldwin spent much of his young years inside libraries. Encouraged to take advantage of his gift from teachers and peers, Baldwin published his first article, “Harlem– Then and Now” in his school magazine in 1937. Growing up, his step-father’s religious views pulled him in and significantly affected his work and worldview. In 1948, Baldwin left the country for Paris in order to study and write outside the context of being an oppressed African-American, where he remained for most of his life. Known most notably for essays such as Nobody Knows My Name and The Fire Room and Just Above My Head. Baldwin’s work is world renown for its commentaries on racial, sexual, and class issues within the twentiethcentury West. Baldwin was also a passionate activist, known for partaking in the civil rights movement, as well as the gay liberation movement.

ALLSTAR/BRITTANY HOUSE PICTURES.

Next Time, and also his novels such as Giovanni’s

FIRST EDITION OF “GIOVANNI’S ROOM,” 1956. (LEFT) FIRST EDITION OF “LITTLE MAN LITTLE MAN,” 1976. (RIGHT)

ARCHITECT

exican Architect and Landscape Architect Luis Barra-

gan was known for his bright colors, brilliant use of light, and geomet-

ric shapes that defined and guided physical experiences in all of his spaces. Born in Guadalajara in 1902, Barragan went to school as a civil engineer and architect, then moved to Europe for two years to travel and learn from the environments around him. In 1936 Barragan permanently moved to Mexico City, where he began to develop his signature style of design. Barragan’s father died in 1930, leaving Barragan as the head of the family business, where he worked on apartment buildings and small residential projects. Barragan’s first large scale project began in 1945 for businessman José Alberto Bustamante, while working for the Jardines del Pedregal de San Angel, S. A. firm. This project was completed in 1952 and Barragan consequently left the firm. As Barragan continued to work on his own, and travel constantly, he found a constant interest in human and architectural interaction with nature, especially nature that was already on building sites. Though he is often described as a minimalist, Barragan’s structures are bold, loud, yet mysterious and welcoming. Aaron Betsky has described his work as “architecture of the difficult whole” which has three parts; lack of presentation, lack of monumentality, no good plan, and inclusion of interior design. These qualities may sound negative, but when perfected and pieced together these four elements enable spaces that are unexpected, experiential, and complete. The ultimate product is simplicity, architecture that lets you breathe, architecture that works with the viewer.

CASA GILARDI. LOUIS BARRAGAN. STILL FROM FILM BY CESAR PASQUERAS, MADE FOR NOWNESS IN RESIDENCE SERIES 2016

LUIS BARRAGAN

CASA GILARDI. LOUIS BARRAGAN. STILL FROM FILM BY CESAR PASQUERAS, MADE FOR NOWNESS IN RESIDENCE SERIES 2016

POET

ittle is known of the upbringing of Matsuo Basho, the 17th century poet coined the greatest master of haiku. What is known is though, are the events and circumstances that lead him to his greatest innovation/ reformation, the hokku. Born in Japan to a family of samurai descent, Basho made it his duty to reach samurai level. In the pursuit of this, he became the servant of TÐdÐ Yoshitada, who shared his love for a form of collaborative poetry composition, haiku no renga. In 1665, he and Yoshitada composed a one-hundred-verse renku and in the circle of Nihonbashi, Basho became known for his unique simplistic style leading to his induction into the inner circle of poets. This earned him a teaching job and his own hut. But after a fire in 1682 that destroyed his home, he began traveling on foot. These travels would become the subject matter and inspiration of his new form of poetry he called haibun, which combined the external images of the journey and the internal images in the traveler’s mind as he goes about the journey. From there on, he advised his followers to neglect the traditional Edo style of the time and even his earlier work as it did not convey the essence of his real environment and emotions.

SCENERY OF CHIRYU IN EDO PERIOD, PAINTING, WOODCUT, JAPANESE WOOD BLOCK PRINT

MATSUO BASHO

FLOWERING WATER LILY, OHARA KOSON, KAI PROVINCE, JAPANESE WOODLOCK

GRAPHIC DESIGNERS | FILMMAKERS

SAUL & ELAINE BASS

THE ANATOMY OF A MURDER, 1959

hic erican grap minent Am ro p re e w h tury. T ey laine Bass entieth cen tw Saul and E e th f o ers York and filmmak orn in New designers ers. Both b tn ar p e iv d became s and creat the 1920s an g n were couple ri u d ts ran laine pean immig Saul and E ilies of Euro ere young, w ey th City in fam ce hey largely sign sin r in 1960. T art and de e th in e d g e to st g re rkin inte ovie started wo gos and m arried and corporate lo s, ce n e u Bass got m q in esign g. title se sequence d tion picture e o tl ti m d rn e e n d g o desi em goal neers of th asses’ main d were pio e of the B n o s, ce n posters, an e u what the e sequ ing film titl that tells yo n g se si ra e h d p n e al Wh also simple, visu ory”. They reach for a ce of the st n e ss e e was “try to th u evokes d in an nfa f their worl l about and o al ts is ar p re ar tu pic eir 40e famili ience to se y.” During th d ar au in e rd th ao r tr y ex aimed fo the ordinar us, “making th , ay w ar mili year career, the Basses w orked for so makers, incl me of Hollyw uding Alfred ood’s greates H it t filmch co ck , Stanley Kub Billy Wilder, rick, Otto Pre and Martin S co m rs inger, ese. As graphic d esigners, they were respons membered, ible for som most iconic e of the bes lo g os in North t-reinal AT&T “b America, incl ell” logo in uding the o 19 69 rig, as well as thei 1983. They al r later “glob so designed e” lo C o g ntinental Air o in and United A lines’ 1968 “j irlines’ 1974 etstream” lo “t ul ip ” go lo g o which have most recogni become som zed logos o f e th o e f the era. As filmmaker s, their short d o cu m en Academy Aw tary “Why M an Creates” ard for Docu won the mentary Sho other short rt Subject in films were al 19 6 8. Tw o of their so nominated for Academ y Awards.

38 36

LEFT: THE SHINING(REJECTED), 1980 / RIGHT: VERTIGO, 1958

PHOTOJOURNALIST

LETIZIA BATTAGLIA

etizia Battaglia is an Italian photographer and

photojournalist who is best known for her work documenting the mafia. She was born on March 5, 1935 in Palermo, Italy, where she started her career. Battaglia frequently speaks about her experiences, and claims that the first corpse she photographed was a man laying beneath an olive tree in a field in rural Sicily. She is now 85 years old, and continues to be passionately engaged in both the social and political life of her city. Her work documenting the mafia was extremely critical because they were some of the only photographs that held the mafia to account. It has become known that her images were used in proving prime minister Guilio Andreotti’s links to organized crime in the 1970s, and was present at almost every major crime scene involving the Sicilian Mafia since 1974. Although she was best known for her works regarding the mafia, she also photographed a wide range of Sicilian lifestyle. Battaglia has received for Humanistic Photography, as well as the Cornell Capa Infinity Award from the International Center of Photography. She is one of the very few women who changed the face of photojournalism, and to this day, she continues to be recognized in her native city of Sicily with her hair dyed pink.

6 40

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numerous awards including the W. Eugene Smith Grant

BATTAGLIA PHOTOGRAPED IN FRONT OF MAFIA SIGN

7 41

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

lexey Brodovich was a Russian-born American

photographer, designer and instructor who is most famous for his art direction of the Harper’s Bazaar. To people who know his work, he is the pioneer of editorial design. His works can be distinguished by strong and appealing layouts, in which photo and typography play an equal importance in constructing the space of the spread. One technique that sets him apart from other designers is the repetition of the form seen in the photographs. For example, if the photo on the left side of the spread has a focus on a round object, Alexey brodovitch would fill the right side of the spread with text that’s in the shape of a circle. While this accent on the visuals and form can seem ineffective, Brodovitch manages to put together all the typographic elements in a clear and legible way, which immediately catches the viewer’s eye and changes their preconceptions about the design of magazines. Apart from magazine design, Brodovitch also played an important role in shaping American graphic design style in the 1930s by introducing radically simplified, “modern” graphic design style from Europe. During his teaching practice that started with a position of the head of Advertising Design Department in University of the Arts, Pennsylvania, he developed a new way of educating advertisement design students. Rather than just copying the works of the 19th century romanticists, he encouraged students to pull from their inner creative sources.

16 44

EDITORIAL TWO-PAGE SPREAD FROM HARPER’S BAZAAR, DESIGNED BY ALEXEY BRODOVITCH, WITH PHOTOGRAPHY BY GLEB DERUJINSKI.

ALEXEY BRODOVICH

46 18

LEFT: 1936 ISSUE OF THE HARPER’S BAZAAR MAGAZINE SPREAD, RIGHT: COVERS OF HARPER’S BAZAAR

COMPOSER

JOHN CAGE

CAGE PICTURED WITH HIS PIANO

ohn Milton Cage was an American composer, artist, and philosopher that was best known for his avant-garde compositions and unorthodox use of chance and mathematical formulas he implemented into his artworks. He is considered as a pioneer of interdeterminacy in music, electroacoustic music, and is often known as one of the most influential and prominent composers of the 20th century. He believed that “there is no such thing as an empty space or an empty time,” suggesting that there is always something to feel and experience — including silence. He was born on September 5, 1912, in Los Angeles, CA. During his early career he primarily focused on musical compositions and choreography, but later became closely associated with artists including Jackson Pollock, Robert Rauschenberg, and Marcel Duchamp. He was great successes with other musicians and artists alike. Not only did he secure concerts at prestigious locations such as the Museum of Modern Art, he also taught at the Chicago School of design. During this time, he turned to other mediums like painting, etching, printmaking, as well as photography. Some of his works can still be found at the Smithsonian American Art Museum today. He died in New York on August 12, 1992.

MUSICIAN | PHOTOGRAPHER

JOHN COHEN

ohn

Cohen was an American musician, photographer, and film maker who, both performed and documented the traditional music of the rural South. He made major contributions to the American folk music revival, particularly throughout the 50s and 60s, where he was a founding member of a New York-based string band. He was born in Queens, New York, and grew up on Long Island, spending his childhood mastering the guitar and the banjo. In New York, he was a neighbor to Swiss photographer Robert Frank, who eventually inspired Cohen to dive into and photograph Abstract Expressionist painters and Beat writers. Cohen was a rather multifaceted man, releasing a solo album in 1998, and later moving on to being an associate music producer for multiple movies with renown produce He later attended Yale University and pursed a master’s in fine arts. Throughout his career, he traveled throughout the South, documenting concerns, musicians, and more. Cohen also worked as a music producer for a multitude of movies, yet he also made a name for himself on the mentary. He was married to American folksinger, Penelope “Peggy” Seeger, showing that his love for music and the arts ran in his family. He passed away in September 2019, in Putham Valley, New York.

COHEN PLAYING THE BANJO

other side of the camera, appearing in Martin Scorsese’s docu-

WRITER

TEJU COLE

he first of five children, Teju Cole was born in Kalamazoo, Michigan to

Nigerian parents. His father was studying for his MBA at Western Michigan University when Cole and his mother moved back to Nigeria shortly after he was born. When Cole was 17, he moved back to the US and attended Western Michigan University until he transferred to Kalamazoo College one year later. After cycling through several different educations, Cole found himself studying African Art History at the School of Oriental and African Studies in London. Teju Cole is currently a practicing writer, photographer, and educator. His work explores the subtleties in storytelling, both through written language and visual language. Cole is particularly interested in the photobook as a literary form, as shown in his 2017 book, Blind Spot. Blind spot combines Cole’s photographs from all over the world with poetry and prose on the same page. The images provide a view into everyday scenes that Cole encounters, usuthe year by Time Magazine, and was shortlisted for the Aperture/Paris Photo Photobook Award. Cole was the photography critic of the New York Times from 2015-2019, while also publishing several books. One of his most well known books, Every Day is for the Thief, is a novella named book of the year by New York Times, NPR, the Telegraph, and The Globe and Mail. Cole is also an academic critic of contemporary photography and writing, and is currently the Gore Vidal Professor of Creative Writing at Harvard.

TEJU COLE, NEW YORK CITY, MAY 2015

ally lacking human subjects. Blind Spot was named one of the best books of

TEJU COLE, NEW YORK CITY, MAY 2015 TEJU COLE, RIVERA, OCTOBER 2014

ARTIST | PHOTOGRAPHER

ROY DECARAVA

oy deCarava was an African

American artist. Born and raised in New York City, DeCarava came of age during the Harlem Renaissance, when artistic activity and achievement among African Americans flourished across the literary, musical, dramatic, and visual arts. He studied art in public high schools, the Cooper Union, Harlem Community Art Center, and George Washington Carver Art School. DeCarava first used a camera as a means of gathering visual information when he worked in painting; however, by the mid-1940s, he switched exclusively to photography as his primary means of artistic expression, admiring the medium’s directness and flexibility. DeCarava is known as a founder in the field of black and white fine art photography, advocating for an approach to the medium based on the core value of an individual, subjective creative sensibility, which was separate and distinct from the “social sonal style of his portraits evinces his sympathy for his subjects. Noting this, publisher and photographer Alan Thomas commented on DeCarava’s “gentle humanism.”

FOUR BASSISTS, 1965

documentary” style of many predecessors. The deeply per-

LEFT: BILLIE HOLIDAY AND HAZEL SCOTT AT A PARTY, 1957 / RIGHT: COLTRANE #24, 1961 (RIGHT)

ARTIST

SONIA DELAUNAY began experimenting in her own work. In 1908, she married German art dealer Wilhelm Uhde, a secretly gay man who ultimately served as

After gaining some connections, she later met and remarried Robert Delauncey. Together they experimentn Chereul’s theory, when colors

ed with interlocking of patterns and

that oppose each other are bought

colors, eventually developing the

together, they amplify each oth-

revolutionary simultanéisme, which

er thus giving a painting that uses

occurs when a design placed next

these colors greater intensity. Ukra-

to another affects both. This estab-

nian-born French artist and fashion

lished a new movement within the

designer, Sonia Delauney, known for her vibrant use of color to form geometric patterns, took heed of this theory. After university, Delauney studied in Paris, where she found conflict with the overtly critical style

art scene. Her works created a sense of intensity, depth and movement that had yet to be seen. These elements of her work were especially emphasized when she veered more to fashion design and costume work, where the patterns took on physical

of teaching but found solace in the

movement. The line between fine

city’s museums. Inspired by the

art and applied art was blurring. De-

post-impressionist art of Van Gogh,

launcey had created a movement

Rousseau, Gauguin and others, she

within the movement of her work.

SONIA DELAUNAY DRESS FABRIC LONDON 1967

her induction into the art industry.

66 LEFT: SONIA DELAUNAY (RIGHT) AND TWO FRIENDS IN ROBERT DELAUNAY’S STUDIO, PARIS 1924RIGHT: OIL PAINTING, 1921

WRITER

JOAN DIDION

ccomplished essayist, novelist, and screenwriter Joan Di-

dion was born into a military family in Sacramento, California in 1934. Didion attended the University of California at Berkeley in 1956. After graduating, Didion worked for Vogue magazine as an editor, and also wrote her first novel Run River (1963). The next year, Didion and writer John Gregory Dunne married, moved to Los Angeles, and adopted their daughter, Quintana Roo. In 1968 Didion published her collection of essays about the social changes and counterculture during the 1960s called “Slouching Towards Bethlehem.” Didion wrote four screenplays with Dunne, while writing countless essays and essay collections. Dunne died suddenly in 2003, leaving Didion grief-stricken, which she wrote about in her book “The Year of Magical Thinking.” Didion’s writing is often heavy and laced with grief and sadness throughout, but is also deeply introspective and insightful. Unfortunately, in 2005, Didion’s daughter also passed away from acute pancreatitis. Didion deThroughout her life, Didion has consistently and acutely written about the intimacies of her life, and the environment and social movements around her.

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scribed this journey of loss and grief in her 2011 memoir, “Blue Nights.”

D WITH JOHN GREGORY DUNNE, WHO DIED IN 2003, AND THEIR DAUGHTER, QUINTANA ROO DUNNE. PHOTOGRAPH BY JULIAN WASSER JOAN DIDION. HANDWRITTEN BOOK LIST. 2018

PAINTER

TARSILA DO AMARAL

arsila Do Amaral is a leading Brazilian modern-

ist artist, described as “the Brazilian painter who best

achieved Brazilian aspirations for nationalistic expression in a modern style.” In 1923, while attending a prestigious art academy in Paris, Tarsila wrote “I feel myself ever more Brazilian. I want to be the painter of my country”. During that time, she was exposed to cubism, expressionism, futurism, and eventually reached her signature style of vibrant landscapes and everyday scenes. While in Paris at this time, she painted one of her most famous works, A Negra [9](1923). The principal subject matter of the painting is a large figure of a black woman with a single prominent breast. Tarsila stylized the figure and flattened the space, filling in the background with geometric forms. After her return Brazilian culture. In 1924, she began the Pau-Brazil phase, named after the Pau-Brazil manifesto, a call for a truly Brazilian art and literature. Some of the most prominent artworks she produced in that phase are E.F.C.B. (Central Railway of Brazil) and Carnival in Madureira, depicting Brazil’s industrial development and landscapes, reduced to simple forms. Do Amaral is widely celebrated in Brazil, and, along with five members of the Grupo Dos Cinco (“Group of Five”), a group of influential writers and painters, had most influence on the forming of the modern art movement in her country.

“E.F.C.B. (ESTRADA DE FERRO CENTRAL DO BRASIL)”, 1924

to Brazil, she decided to venture further in the characteristic aspects of

74 46 LEFT: “ABAPORU”, 1928; RIGHT: OPERÁRIOS (WORKERS), 1933.

PHOTOGRAPHER

LOUIS FAURER

he first time Louis Faurer bought a camera was in 1937, while working as a freelance advertising signs and posters painter. The only photography class he ever took was during a four year period as the civilian photographer of the U.S. Army Signal Corps in Philadelphia. Faurer was born in Philadelphia in 1916, but moved to New York City hoping to launch his photography career in the late 1940s. Many street photographers were moving to New pursue careers working for publications such as Life magazine. However, Faurer was more interested in fashion publications and photography, and in 1947 he was hired by Lilian Bassman to work for Junior Bazaar. Here Faurer met Swiss photographer Robert Frank, and the two developed a long lasting friendship. During this time the New York School of Photography was loosely developing, including artists such as Diane Arbus, Robert Frank, William Klein, and of course Faurer. Faurer’s images are often characterized by their dark and melancholy auras, yet he uses light brilliantly to create this dark energy. His photographs depict the everyday in New York City during the 1940s and 50s, focusing on human subjects’ movement and emotions.

WIN, PLACE, AND SHOW, 3RD AVE EL AT 53RD ST, NEW YORK, NY, 1946-1948

York around this same time to

LOUIS FAURER VIVA, NEW YORK CITY 1962 : LOUIS FAURER ACCIDENT, NEW YORK 1949

PHOTOGRAPHER

merican

film

photographer

Lee Friedlander wandered around 1960s and 1970s New York City molding and fram-

ing an imaginative, contemporary optical dialect. Friedlander found photography at a young age, earning money for his work as early as age 14. Naturally, he decided to study photography, attending the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena. California. Upon completion of his degree in 1956, Friedlander moved to NYC and photographed jazz musicians, often for their record covers. Inspired by the likes of Walker Evans, Robert Frank, and Eugene Atget and others, Friedlander began to focus his work on capturing the urban landscape of his environment as it shaped the social landscape of everyday life. His photographs combine aspects of modern city life to form portraits of the essential nature of urban being. “You don’t have to go looking for pictures. The material is generous. You go out and the pictures are staring at you,” sums up his liberated approach to capturing these photos. He juxtaposes sharp edges of the city with the rounded silhouettes of people on the streets and even himself. The innovative techniques he used, such as fragmentation and reflection to create double exposures, gather in unexpected ways to function as a true representation of the ever-changing landscape that is daily life in the American city. 80

LEE FRIEDLANDER

LEE FRIEDLANDER, “SIGNS”, NYC 1963

LEE FRIEDLANDER, LOUISIANA (1960)

LEE FRIEDLANDER, HUMAN CLAY: CHILDREN AND PORTRAITS, 1960

FILM DIRECTOR

JEAN LUC-GODARD

ioneer of the radical 1960s art film movement Jean-Luc Goddard rejected conventional filmmaking in favor of the unfamiliar. The French-born critic turned screenwriter/director attended the University of Paris, where he

ditched

anthropology

classes

to partake in popular film clubs, which gained popularity in the Latin Quarter of Paris just before the 1950s. He most frequently took part in the Cinémathèque Française, CinéClub du Quartier Latin and the Work and Culture ciné club. Goddard and his acquaintances criticized the traditional mainstream style of films. Becoming less and less satisfied with these films, Goddard partnered with other members who shared these views to create their own films. These films would become the forefront of The French New Wave, a movement that directly opposed French Cinema’s “Tradition of Quality,” which favored craft over innovation. The goal was to challenge the comoutdated standards of traditional cinema. Viewing film as an agent of knowledge, Goddard sought to represent the “objective reality.” He included many discernable techniques in his films such as jump cuts, character asides and breaks in continuity, as seen in his 1960 crime drama Breathless, all techniques previously branded as amateur. In his later films, he progressively expresses his political views and Marxist perspective. It is these innovative techniques and disclosures that distinguish Goddard’s films from any others. 84

JEAN LUC-GODARD, ALPHAVILLE 1965

mercial narrative, sound, and camera work norms, to disband certain

58 LEFT: JEAN LUC-GODARD, 1961;GODARD PREPARES SCENE FOR UNE FEMME EST UNE FEMME 1961

ARCHITECT

ZAHA HADID

adid was an Iraqi born British architect. She came from a

supportive family who allowed her to even design some of the interiors of their home. After

studying

mathematics

American

University in Beiruit, she moved to London. There she studied at Architectural Association, where She met her future collaborators, Elia Zenghelis and Rem Koolhaas. During her time at university, she designed a hotel for the Hungerford Bridge. In her design for the hotel she was Influenced by Kazmir Malevish’ Supermatist paintings. Her first major built project was Vitra Fire Station in Weil am Rhein, Germany. She went on to create a housing project for IBA Housing in Berlin and the Land Formation One exhibition space in Weil am Rhein. During this early stage of her career her designs allowed her to explore creating interconnecting spaces and

Which is a post-modern architectural movement known for its rejection of modernist ideals and its rejection of basic artists ideas like harmony and symmetry. Other designers who utilize this style are Peter Eisenman and Philip Johnson.

JOCKEY CLUB INNOVATION TOWER, HONG KONG, COMPLETED 2014

career and was the first woman win the Pritzker Architecture Prize. Due to her dynamic designs were often linked to deconstructionists.

GALAXY SOHO, CHINA, BEIJING, 2012.

dynamic sculptural from. She went on to start her own firm, Zaha Hadid Architects (ZHA) in 1979. She won multiple awards over her

90 BUILDINGS COMPLETED BY ZAHA HADID ARCHITECTURE

ILLUSTRATOR

MAIRA KALMAN

riter and illustrator Maira Kalman was born in 1949

in Tel Aviv. At the age of four her family relocated to the Bronx in New York City. Maira attended what is now known as LaGuardia High School, where she studied art. Staying in New York City, Maira later attended New York University to study English literature. At the age of 18, Maira met her future husband Tibor Kalman. Tibor, originally from Budapest, was a designer who had also moved to New York and attended New York University. In 1979 Maira and TIbor founded M & Co., a graphic and product design consultancy. Years Kalman began to publish children’s books. Her first one, Stay Up Late, included illustrations alongside David Bryne’s of the Talking Heads’ lyrics. She has now written and illustrated over 30 books for both kids and adults. Kalman has done column and cover illustrations for The New Yorker and The New York Times. While her illustrations might be best known, Kalman creates in many different ways. She calls herself a “storyteller, a journalist, a designer and a humorist”. Kalman paints, gives Ted Talks, and collaborates on work with her son Alex. Kalman’s art has been seen in galleries and museums around the world.

MAIRA KALMAN, SELF-PORTRAIT (WITH PETE), 2004-5

later, after having two children,

MAIRA KALMAN, SUNNY DAY AT THE PARK, 2007 (LEFT)

PHOTOGRAPHER

SEYDOU KEÏTA

ortrait photographer Seydou Keïta

was born in Bamako, Mali in 1921. The

African photographer reflected upon his surroundings through his photos of people around his hometown. Keïta first got his hands on a camera in 1935, as a gift from his uncle. Like his father and uncle, Keïta initially worked as a carpenter. He would take photographs of people close to him before expanding onto the rest of his neighborhood. In 1948 Keïta opened his studio in Bamako. The studio was successful, with his clients of families or businesses enjoying Keïta’s style. His studio included costumes and objects to amplify the clients image. He would position the subject in the ideal way to compose his images. This was Keïta’s strong suit, himself noting,”what really made a difference was that I always knew how to find the right position”. Keïta’s mastered formal technique was amplified with the compelling subject matter

his studio to be a photographer for the Socialist government following Mali’s independence. He retired in 1977, and years later received international praise, with his work being permanently held in museums across the United States. Keïta is recognized as a centerpiece of 20th century and African photography. 96

SEYDOU KEÏTA, 1958-1959

of Malian society. His studio was seen as the fashionable place to go until he closed his studio in 1962. Keïta moved on from

SEYDOU KEÏTA, 1953-1957 (LEFT), SEYDOU KEÏTA, 1948-1954 (RIGHT)

DESIGNER | PRINTMAKER

SISTER CORITA KENT

orita Kent is

an American born

Roman Catholic Sister, known for her print and design work. Being a woman born in the early twentieth century, Corita Kent had few options for her work, and chose to join Sisters of the Immaculate Heart, a Catholic institute for women, known at the time for being extremely progressive in promoting creativity and expression. Kent’s tool of choice was the silkscreen, and her work was famous for pushing the limits of the two-dimensional medium. Taking a note from Andy Warhol, Kent used popular culture as the raw materials for creating her prints. Kent would take grocery signage, packaging, newspaper clippings, or texts from her earlier influences such as E. E. Cummings, Gertrude Stein, and Albert Camus. Though these were the materials, the finished product of Kent’s oeuvre was often of religious commentary. Kent’s works are known having a For Instance, her use of english religious texts greatly influenced the church’s decisions to promote masses conducted in English. Sister Corita Kent’s work touched many worlds, whether they be cultural, religious, or political.

100

“FOR ELEANOR,” 1964.

great effect on the events of the Catholic Reforms of the 1960s.

CORITA IN STUDIO, C. 1965. (LEFT) “THE JUICIEST TOMATO OF ALL,” 1964. (RIGHT)

PAINTER

FRIDA KAHLO

strangest person in the world.” In her later life, she become very politically active and in 1929, Kahlo married communist artist Diego rida Kahlo was a Mex-

Rivera, whos large fresco paint-

ican painter whose works were

ings helped the mural movement

heavily inspired by the nature of

take off in Mexico, and interna-

Mexico. Many of her paintings

tionall as well. She died in 1954 in

were self portraits, and was in-

her hometown of Coyoacán, Mex-

volved in multiple artistic move-

ico City, Mexico, at the young age

ments throughout her lifetime.

of 47.

Some of these movements include Naïve Art, Modern art, Surrealism, and Magical Realism. She lived with multiple disabilities include polio, and spinal and pelvis damage from a car accident, but became one of the most important artists of her time despite these

hardships.

Through

her

paintings, she explored questions regarding race, class, gender, and most importantly, identity. Many which also serves as an important statement as she is confidently unique and unconventional with the ways she embraces her individuality. She once claimed that “[she] used to think [she] was the 104

PORTRAIT OF FRIDA KAHLO

recognize Kahlo for her unibrow,

106

107

SCULPTOR

odys Isek Kingelez

was a Congolese sculptor and artist known for his models of fantastic imagined cities, made of cupboard and other scrap materials, such as plastic and paper. The colorful and futuristic models symbolize an ideal society that starkly contrasts with reality. It seems like Bodys was constructing his dream world where everyone is happy and free that reflected his own beliefs. Sarah Suzuki, a curator at Museum of Modern Art New York, has said that “Kingelez’s works are a place of optimism, a place of beauty … This feels very welcome.” One of his iconic works is Ville Fantôme (“Ghost town”). Created in 1996, it is a fully imagined mash of fantasy architecture made of colorful paper and cardboard. It was the most ambitious work produced by the artist who explained that he “was dreaming cities of peace”. What is charming about this work is that there is a contrast between the piece’s grand vision and handmade quality, which makes the cupboard city feel personal and dear. Though full of positivity, once viewed closely, the piece appears highly impractical because of the frivolity of the structure of the buildings and the city plan. It is unclear how the city would actually fit together, and that reminds of the fact that it being ideal means that it can’t be practically achieved.

108

RIGHT: BODYS ISEK KINGELEZ (CONGOLESE, 1948-2015). VILLE FANTÔME. 1996. NEXT SPREAD: “VILLE DE SÈTE 3009”. 2000.

BODYS ISEK KINGELEZ

CONCEPTUAL ARTIST | COLLAGIST

BARBARA KRUGER

arbara Kruger is an American conceptual artist and collagist. Born on January 26, 1945 in Newark, NJ, Kruger worked as a graphic designer and art director after studying at both Syracuse University and Parsons School of Design (where she studied under Diane Arbus and Marvin Israel) in the 1960s.

Her early career path directly influenced the style her art would eventually take. She currently lives and works between New York, NY and Los Angeles, CA. Best known for laying aggressively directive slogans over black-and-white photographs from the deluge of contemporary mass media, Kruger developed a visual language that was strongly influenced by her early work as a graphic designer. She also received inspiration from Constructivist Alexander Rodechenko. Rendered with black-and-white, red accented, Futura Bold Oblique font, Kruger’s works offer up short phrases such as “Thinking of You,” “You are a captive audience,” and “I shop therefore I am,” conveying her own sexual, social, and political messages, critiquing consumerism and desire. Kruger’s works have appeared on billboards, bus cards, posters and in public parks, train station platforms, and other public spaces. She has also created site-specific installations comprised of video, film, audio, and projection. “I’m fascinated with the difference between supposedly private and supposedly public and I try to engage the issue of what it means to live in a society that’s seemingly shock-proof, yet still is compelled to exercise secrecy,” she explained of her work. In this way, Kruger challenges social relationships, and political issues.

112

NY MAGAZINE COVER, 2016

the stereotypical ways mass media influences society’s notions about gender roles,

115

LEFT: UNTITLED (YOUR BODY IS A BATTLEGROUND), 1989 / RIGHT: UNTITLED (THINKING OF YOU), 1995-2000

FILMMAKER

AKIRA KUROSAWA

urosawa

was a Japanese filmmaker behind the films such as Rashomon (1950), Ikiru (1952) and Seven Samurai (1954). His father encouraged him to watch films as early as 6, his interest in films continued in the late 1920s he went on become a benshi (a silent film narrator). He attended art school where he studied traditional western paintings. Even though he won many awards for his painting, he gave it up and went into film making instead. In 1936 he became an assistant director at Photo Chemical Laboratories (PCL) cinema studio. PCL cinema studio later became TOHO. Kajirö Yamamoto saw his application to the studio and insisted that Kurosawa was hired at the studio. One of the last films he worked while at PCL was Yamamoto’s Horse, 1941 (Uma). After working

between juda and jujitsu. Many of Kurosawa has been added to the Citroen collection and have gone on the get international acclaim. In 1951, his work Rashomon was shown at the Venice Film Festival and went on to win the Grand Prix and an Academy Award for best foreign- language film. His film Seven Samurai was the most commercially successful work of his. It was said to be inspired by Hollywood Westerns and actually went on the inspire John Sturges’ Magnificent Seven, 1960. His work often included the techniques the ‘axial cut’ and the ‘cut on motion’. 116

KUROSAWA ON SET OF DODESUKADEN, 1970.

as an assistant director, his first feature film was Sanshiro Sugata,1943. It was based on a novel by Tsuneo Tomita. The novel focuses on the rivalry

STILL FROM KUROSAWA’S FILM SEVEN SAMURAI, 1954.

119

PHOTOGRAPHER

HELEN LEVITT

elen Levitt was an American photographer. Born and raised in New York, Helen Levitt has made most of her photographs in the city’s streets. Levitt has been described by The New

York Times described her as “a major photographer of the 20th century who caught fleeting moments of surpassing lyricism, mystery and quiet drama on the streets of her native New York”. Levitt did not receive formal art education from college. Instead, she dropped out of high school and learned darkroom technique while working for a portrait photographer. By the age of sixteen, Levitt had decided to become a professional photographer. She was especially inspired by the photographs of Walker Evans and Henri Cartier-Bresson, both of whom became friends. Following Cartier-Bresson’s lead, Levitt bought a 35-millimeter camera, through which she reflected her poetic vision, humor, and inventiveness as much as they have honestly portrayed her subjects—men, women, and children acting out a daily drama on the sidewalks and stoops of New York City’s tenements. Celebrated for their perceptive depiction of everyday life in New York City’s close-knit neighborhoods of the 1940s and 1950s, Levitt’s photographs create a palpable sense of place. Her familiarity with the subjects and scenes she photographed imparts a unique candor to her observations. Although her early works are particularly beloved, her more recent work, which represents a different kind of urban environment, is equally effective. National Endowment for the Arts Photography Fellow, and the International Center of Photography’s Master of Photography Infinity Award.

120

NEW YORK CITY, 1939

Levitt has received notable award such as a Guggenheim Fellowship, a

122

123

LEFT: NEW YORK CITY, 1942 / RIGHT: NEW YORK CITY, 1942

TYPEFACE DESIGNER

ZUZANA LICKO typeface is the

ornamental manifestation of

the alphabet,” says Zuzana Licko, if the alphabet conveys words, a typeface conveys their tone, style, and attitude.” Zuzana Licko was born in Czechoslovakia in 1961, and emigrated to the US with her parents at the age of seven. Licko attended University of California Berkeley, where she fell in love with the power and impact of type in graphic design. Licko founded Emigre Graphics in 1984 with her husband Rudy VanderLans. This was the same year Licko first used a Macintosh computer, which she used to start designing her signature bitmap fonts. The Macintosh, like all technology, allowed for democratization

design

was

that

previ-

ously

to typeface specialists using special tools. Since founding the type foundry and self-publish-

ing magazine, Emigre has become recognized all over the globe for its innovations in type and as early users of new

technologies in computer programming and design. Originally, Emigre was mainly a magazine, but VanderLans and Licko were so adept and progressive with their typefaces, the need for and Emigre Type Foundry was these technology driven digital typefaces as its main design principal. One of Licko’s most popular typeface designs is “Mrs Eaves” which is derivative of the classic typeface “Baskerville.” Mrs Eaves is named after Sarah Eaves, who was the wife of typeface designer John Baskerville.

124

CAPTION WOULD BE PLACED HERE

obvious. Since its foundation, Emigre has focused on

TANGLY LINES AND TANGLY SPLINES. EMIGRE

the

only available

126 MRS EAVES CLASSIC. EMIGRE

TANGLY LINES AND TANGLY SPLINES. EMIGRE

ACTRESS

ANNA MAGNANI egarded as one of the greatest actresses of not only Italy, but the world as a whole, Anna Magnani was born in the spring of 1908. Magnani was famous for her acting style, known for her realistic and non-caricaturistic portrayals of her characters. Combustion seems to be a common theme for Magnani, as many of her critics used words such as “explosive,” “fiery,” or “volcanic” to describe her talents. She became the first Italian actress to procure an academy award in 1951 for her work on Tennessee Williams’ The Rose Tattoo. She also received critical acclaim for other roles in films such as Rome, Open City (1945), The Golden Coach (1953), and The Secret of Santa Vittoria (1969). Little is known of her childhood, and it is even disputed whether her birth place was in Alexandria, Egypt, or Rome, Italy. It is known that she was born to an ItalianJewish mother and Egyptian father who sent her to the Eleonora Duse Royal Academy of Dramatic Art in Rome for two years, to support herself until she was discovered by Italian filmmaker Goffredo Alessandrini, who kickstarted her career and would eventually marry her.

128

MAGNANI C. 1950S.

where she studied acting. She sang in nightclubs

“THE GOLDEN COACH,” 1952. (LEFT) “ROME OPEN CITY,” 1945 (RIGHT)

PHOTOGRAPHER

SUSAN MEISELAS usan Meiselas is an American documentary photographer, who believed that “Photography should not be about the photographer.” Meiselas said those words at the Library of Congress on March 4, 1999, and they seem to have informed her photography practice her entire career. She has been associated with Magnum Photos, the most well-known international photographic cooperative, since 1976. Meiselas is also the president and co-founder of the Magnum Foundation, a non-profit photographic organization located in NYC with a mission to expand diversity and creativity in documentary photography. ed out as a teacher in New York. Meiselas then went on to document Nicaragua’s Sandinista revolution. Her photographs of war-torn Nicaragua and American carnival strippers are her best-known work, especially one photograph named Molotov Man, which depicts a man poised to throw a molotov cocktail made from a Pepsi bottle in his right hand, while holding a rifle in his left hand. This photo became the symbol of Sandinista revolution and was widely reproduced and remixed in Nicaragua. More recently, she has been putting her effort in educating a new, diverse generation of photographers. She has published a few books and has been the subject of two books, “Susan Meiselas: Mediations” (Damiani) and “Susan Meiselas: On the Frontline” (Thames & Hudson).

132

CONTACT SHEET OF THE “CAARNIVAL STRIPPERS” SERIES (1971-1978)

Born in 1948, she earned a degree at Harvard and start-

134

135

LEFT: LENA ON THE BAILY BOX, 1973; RIGHT: “BETWEEN SHOW”, 1975 (FROM “CARNIVAL STRIPPERS” SERIES)

PHOTOGRAPHER

LISETTE MODEL

isette Model is a photog-

rapher who depicted lives within cities throughout her work. Born in Austria in 1901, Model began studying music under composer Arnold Schoenberg at a young

136

age. In her 20s Model moved to

In 1938 Model went to New York City where she

Paris and married Russian paint-

got into contact with other photographers, no-

er Evsa Model. In 1933 she chose

tably Alexey Brodovitch. Model’s style is what is

to leave music and pursue art as

now known as street photography; quick, can-

a student of Andre Lhote. Around

did images of the city life around her. Her most

the same time Lisette began to

well known work is a series of photographs of the

pick up the techniques of pho-

people on the Promenade des Anglais in Nice and

tography from her younger sister

New York’s Lower East Side. Her honest and direct

Olga. Aside from Olga’s assis-

depiction of city life was innovative in the world

tance, the only other photogra-

of documentary photography. She was a member

phy lesson Lisette got was from

of the New York Photo League, and a contributor

Hungarian

Rogi

to Harper’s Bazaar. In 1949 she began her teach-

André, who told her “Never pho-

ing career, first at the San Francisco Institute of

tograph anything you are not pas-

Fine Arts and shortly after at the New School for

sionately interested in”.

Social Research in New York.

photographer

LISETTE MODEL, SAILOR AND GIRL, SAMMY’S BAR, 1940

138 LISETTE MODEL, PROMENADE DES ANGLAIS, 1937 (LEFT), LISETTE MODEL, REFLECTION, NEW YORK, 1940 (RIGHT)

139

NOVELIST

TONI MORRISION

orrison was a black novelist whose work expires black identity in American especially the experience

of black woman. Born in Ohio, she grew up with a strong interest in African American issues and black culture. She studied at both Howard and Cornell university. She was the first black woman to win a noble prize in 1993. She has also been awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction 1988 and the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album for children. Morrison went on to become a faculty member at Princeton at 1989. She taught humanities and African American studies. The main focus of her work is the black American experience and struggles that come with being black in America. Many of her characters struggle with their sense of self and identity. She wrote 11 novels including children’s books and essays. Her first book, The Bluest Eye was published 1970. Which focused on a black girl dealing with Euro-centric beauty standards, and longs to fit them. Her other work Beloved, which focuses on the true story of a runaway slave, won a Pulitzer Prize. This novel was adapted to a film in 1998. Some her Children’s books include Little Cloud and Lady Wind; The Big Box (Jump at Sun) and The Tortoise or the Hare. to be a painter and musician.

140

TONI MORRISON, 1985 BETTMAN

She wrote some of these books with her son Slade Morrison, who went on

MORRISON’S NOBLE PRIZE ACCEPTANCE SPEECH

“We die.

That may be the meaning of life. But we do language. That may be the measure of our lives.

“

-TORI MORRISON

VISUAL ARTIST

SHIRIN NESHAT

hirin

Neshat

Iranian born, New York based visual artist. She left for the United States at seventeen to school. Five years later, the Islamic Revolution of 1979 came about, leaving Neshat away from her home country for 12 years. When she returned in 1990, she saw women being forced to wear the chador. The chador, a traditional veil, became one of the subjects of her early works Unveiling and Women of Allah. The photographs in these series are messages about femininity in Islamic beliefs in Iran. Much of her work followed in this way, exploring and contrasting aspects of Islamic law. A common theme used to relay themes are uses of strong contrasts like male and female, light and dark, black and white. Neshat has also extended her message to film and video, notably winning the SilWomen Without Men. Neshat utilizes film in her film direction to create a universal emotional sound between the East and the West. She has collaborated with singer Sussan Deyhim for Logic of the Birds, which has been shown at the Walker Art Institute and Artangel in London. In an interview Neshat says, “Music becomes the soul, the personal, the intuitive, and neutralizes the sociopolitical aspects of the work. This combination of image and music is meant to create an experience that moves the audience.”

142

SHIRIN NESHAT, I AM ITS SECRET, 1993

ver Lion for best director at the 2009 Venice FIlm Festival for her debut

145

144 WOMEN OF ALLAH (1997), SHIRIN NESHAT (LEFT), SPEECHLESS (1996), SHIRIN NESHAT

147

SCULPTOR

ISAMU NOGUSCHI

oguchi was a Japanese-American

artist, he worked across multiple mediums including gardens, sculptor, furniture and set designs. He was born in Los Angles, California. He went on to study pre-med in Columbia University and took Sculpture Classes on the side. He studied under Onotio Ruotolo who mentored him. He went on to earn the Guggenheim fellowship which him to Paris to assist Brancusi in his studio. Brancusi became a major influence on his work. He began to included aspects of modernism and abstraction in his pieces. He travelled often in his life and his love of travel can be seen in his work and techniques. In Mexico he got an understanding for the impact of large-scale public work; inking techniques from China and an understanding of Marble from Italy. His visit to Japan in 1949, he discovered a closeness to nature which he thought of in the design of his studio. His affinity with nature is apparent in his life. He studied Japanese gardens and included what he learn into his sculptures. It gave him a “respect for materials and how they were made”. He found and opened The Isamu Noguchi Garden Museum in Long Island City, New York. Today they hold the largest collection of his work. The building was design by Nogusch himself.

146

149

JULY 1947, NYC .C. ARNOLD NEWMAN

148 ISAMU NOGUCHI WITH “BLACK SUN”, SEATTLE, WA 1969, PHOTO BY MICHIO NOGUCHI.

151

LEFT: GRAY SUN,1 967. RIGHT:LOVE OF TWO BOARDS, 1950.

PAINTER

GEORGIA O’KEEFE

A rtist

George O’Keefe is acclaimed for her radical paintings of New York skyscrapers, larger-than-life flowers and artifacts in the American West. Her body of work is distinguishably celebrated as the very integrant of American modernism. At university, O’Keefe learned the traditional techniques of painting. She tended to stick with these techniques until she studied Arthur Wesley Dow, who had more unconventional ideals about art. While teaching in Texas and experimenting with abstraction, she sent her art to friends in New York who showed it to Alfred Steiglitz,

even labeled it as erotic art. Rejecting this criticism, O’Keefe proclaimed that her work was more about color and form than subject matter, suggesting that what was being represented was beauty and femininity. This innate femininity is what distinguished her work from much of the art at the time. Seeking liberation from this domineering scene, she took trips to New Mexico where she began to paint artifacts of Native American and Hispanic culture. This would eventually become her permanent residence after falling in love with the solitude of the scene. Her paintings would harmonize with the American Modernism movement as artists sought distinctive views of America.

150

GEORGIA O’KEEFE, “VARIATION TON A LIGHTHOUSE THEME IV”

who took immediate interest in her work. Critics skepticized the true meanings of her works, especially the flower paintings which they surmised had sexual undertones and

153

152 GEORGIA O’KEEFE, RAM’S HEAD 1935, NEW MEXICO, LAKE GEORGE

155

PHOTOGRAPHER

PAOLO PELLEGRIN

aolo Pellegrin is an ex-

tremely accomplished Italian photojournalist, boasting 10 World Press photo awards. Originally, Pellegrin studied architecture at L’Università la Sapienza, but decided to change directions three years later, studying photography at Istituto Italiano di Fotografia, both in Rome. Pellegrin began his career by travelling to various countries around Europe and documenting things he saw. Some notable projects of his include his work on post-war Bosnian children, various projects concerning the AIDS pandemic in Africa, and his work on the humanitarian crisis in Darfur, Sudan. Pellegrin won his first award for his work in 2001 from the World Press for his anti-terrorism work in Algeria, becoming a Magnum Photos nominee the same year. Pellegrin has published his work in various books, including Bambini (1997), Cambodia (1998), and Kosovo 1999-2000: The Flight of Reason (2002). Pellegrin has taken a certain mantra toward photogterested in a photography that is ‘unfinished’ - a photography that is suggestive and can trigger a conversation or dialogue. There are pictures that are closed, finished, to which there is no way in”

154

LEBANON. TYRE, 2006.

raphy, stating that “I’m more in-

157

ANTI-MUBARAK DEMONSTRATIONS IN TAHRIR SQUARE, CAIRO, EGYPT, 2011

PHOTOGRAPHER

IRVING PENN

ne of Vogue magazine’s

most celebrated photographers of all time, Irving penn was known widely for his engaging images and rich prints, a true master of his craft. Born to immigrant parents in Northeast New Jersey in 1917, Penn went on to study at Philadelphia Museum School of Industrial arts in the mid 1930s. In his adult life, Penn left the country to travel Mexico in 1941 to paint, taking photos along his journey. Considering his painting career a failure, Penn returned to New York to take a job doing layouts at Vogue in 1943. Penn’s art director, Alexander Liberman, who encouraged him to begin taking more photos of his own. After WWII, Penn’s career truly took off as he began working exclusively for Vogue and building a large name for himself with his images, cementing himself as one of the greatest fashion and portrait photographers in history.

158

NADJA IN MIYAKE FASHION BY MOVING LIGHT, 1996.

contact sheets caught the eye of his

SALVADOR DALI (1 OF 3) , 1947. (LEFT) BLACK AND WHITE VOGUE COVER (JEAN PATCHETT), 1950. (RIGHT)

PHOTOGRAPHER

GILLES PERESS

illes Peress is a French

photographer. He was born December 29, 1946 in Neuilly-sur-Seine, France and grew up in Paris with his mother, an orthodox Christian from the Middle East, and his father, who was of Jewish and Georgian descent. Peress made his first photographic series in 1970 after attending the Institut d’Études Politiques (196668) and the Université de Vincennes (1968-71) for political science and philosophy, embarking on an intimate portrayal of life in a French coal mining village as it emerged from the ashes of a debilitating labor dispute. By 1971, he had established In 1972 he joined the international cooperative photography foundation, Magnum, and has served twice ess is best known for his 20-year project about the Irish civil rights struggle, “Hate Thy Brother”, which includes a cycle of documentary

162

TABRIZ, IRAN, 1979

as the organization’s president. Per-

UNTITLED (BOY WITH HAND TO HEAD), 1994

himself as a freelance photographer.

stories that describe intolerance and the re-emergence of nationalism in the postwar years in Ireland. Peress’s work has been exhibited in and collected by in-

PRO-SHARVATMADARI, FROM THE “TELEX IRAN IN THE NAME OF THE REVOLUTION” SERIES, 1980

stitutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art and Museum of Modern Art in New York; Getty Museum in Los Angeles; V&A in London; Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris; and Museum Folkwang, Essen; among others. Peress was the recipient of many awards including fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, La Fondation de France, and the National Endowment for the Arts.

167

ARCHITECT

RENZO PIANO Renzo Piano is an Italian architect, known for his focus in hightech architecture and engineering. In 1977 Piano’s firm, Piano & Rogers, complete the now infamous Centre Pompidou library in Paris, France. The design of the building placed its structural elements on the outside without any facade, therefore leaving the internal elements of the building open to the public view. This project established Piano as an important figure in the high-tech architecture movement, which at the time was mostly British. He has a wide-ranging portfolio of design including schools, museums, residential buildings, and even exhibition installations. After the Piano & Rogers separated, Piano created his own architecture firm, Renzo Piano Building Workshop (RPBW). Piano’s firm focuses on public spaces such as museums and libraries. RPBW says, “A successful building is one that improves daily life for the people who live and work around it.” Collaboration is key to their process and enables products that are community driven and cared for, while also often creating community keystone spaces and buildings. After splitting from Piano & Rogers, Piano designed the Menil Collection in Houston, Texas. After being told that most of the 10,000 artworks in the Menil collection should be shown in natural light, Piano designed a system of concrete leaves that functioned as louvres to filter through natural light without damaging the artwork.

166

WHITNEY MSUEUM, NEW YORK, 2015, AJAY SURESH

PHOTOGRAPHER

SYLVIA PLACHY

ylvia Plachy is a Hungarian-American pho-

tographer, working mainly in photojournalism. She worked

as a staff photographer at The Village Voice from 1974-2004, spending much of the 80s and 90s documenting New York politics and culture, in addition to national news and many internationa l events. She was present during the Romanian Revolution and the dissolution of the Eastern Bloc. Born in Budapest in the spring of 1943, she left Hungary with her parent s early into her teenage years in the wake of Revolution, fleeing to America. She acquired her Bachelor of Fine Arts from Pratt Institute in 1965, just one year after she had begun photographing. Her photographs have been exhibited at various institutions, including the Whitney Museum a nd Minneapolis Institute of Art. She has published six books, among those being Sylvia Plachy’s Unguided Tour (1991), Self Portrait with Cows Going Home (2005), and Red Light: Inside the Sex Industry (1996). She has been awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship, in addition to various other awards, and today works on the faculty at the International raphy.

170

“NIGHT MARE,” 1986.

Center of Photog-

IMAGES FROM JERUSALEM, 1992. (LEFT AND RIGHT)

PHOTOGRAPHER

ELI REED

fter

graduating from the Newark School of Fine and Industri-

al Arts Reed became a full-time freelance photographer in 1970, and simultaneously worked as a hospital orderly during the night. Iin 1980 Reed traveled across the country to San Francisco and began working for the Examiner. It was here that Reed’s career started to flourish and he was noticed for his photographic work. Reed was a Neiman fellow at Harvard University in 1982 work in Central America for the Examiner caught the eye of Magnum Photos and in 1988 he was brought on as Magnum’s first full-member African American photographer. Reed’s work in photography has spanned over several continents, subjects, and decades.Combining his experience as an African American man growing up in the US with an education in political science, Reed focuses on social injustices and the impacts of war on society. Although many of his work was made in conflict areas outside of the US, Reed has continued to make work documenting the impact of social injustices on African Americans for his entire career. Some projects he has worked on cover social issues such as teenage pregnancy in Seattle, conflict in Beirut, Homelessness in San Francisco, and the Lost Boys of Sudan. 174

A WOMAN PETS AN ALBINO BURMESE PYTHON. DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA, 1999

and 83, studying political science, urban affairs, and Central America. Reed’s

177

176

U.S. EMBASSY. BEIRUT, LEBANON. 1983. © ELI REED | MAGNUM PHOTOSLICENSE : HOTEL FOR STUDENTS ON SPRING BREAK, DAYTONA BEACH, FLORIDA. 1999

PAINTER

BRIDGET RILEY iley is an

missioned by Nation-

tising as an illustrator

English

al Galley, Musée d’Art

at Thompson Group

painter. She studied at

Moderene de la Ville

advertising

Goldsmiths’

College

de Paris and Tate

She gave up teaching

and the Royal Col-

Gallery to paint tem-

and advising in 1963-

lege of Art. She ex-

porary murals.One of

1964. She took part

plores the art move-

her major influenc-

and won first prize in

ments, impressionism

es George Seura, a

the Venice BieWnnial

and pointillism. She

French Impressionist

in 1968. She was also

was part of the Op-

painter who created

awarded AICA Critics

tical (Op) art move-

the

chromoluminar-

Prize in 1963 and the

ment.

ism and pointillism

John Moores, Liver-

movement in the 60s

painting

pool Open Section

that

centralized

Another influence is

on abstract art that

Victor Vasarely, es-

gives the impression

pecially his black and

of movement. Before

white line designs. Ri-

this thou, she was

ley became a teacher,

more associated with

she taught children

Impressionism

and

briefly then went on

painted mostly land-

to teach at Lough-

scapes and figures.

borough School of

She also experiment-

Art; Hornsey School

pointillism

of Art and Croydon

around 1958. As well

School of Art. She

as traditional art she

also worked in adver-

This is

with

was

has also painted murals. She was com-

178

technique.

agency.

Prize.

FETE, BRIDGET RILEY, 1989

180 LEFT: ACHAEAN, 1981; RIGHT: FALL, 1963

PHOTOGRAPHER | GRAPHIC DESIGNER

ALEXANDER RODCHENKO leksander “Alexander”

tional, and heavily focused on po-

Mikhailovich Rodchenko (born

litically motivated photography,

Dec 5, 1891), was a Russian artist,

posters, paintings and sculpture.

sculptor, and graphic designer,

Rodchenko dedicated his life into

amongst many other things. His

creating art for the working class-

wife, Varvara Stepanova, was also

es, and joined the October group

a Russian artist that was closely

with other members Diego Rivera

associated with the Construction-

and Sergei Eisenstein. He passed

ist movement. Rodchenko’s works

away in Moscow, just two days

were heavily influenced by Cub-

before what would have been his

ism and Futurism, and by 1921, he

65th birthday.

tivist group with artists including Stepanova and Aleksei Gan. These artists that were a part of the Productivist group advocated for the incorporation of art into everyday life. By 1922, he stepped away from painting as his primary medium, and solely focused on graphic design for posters, books, and films. He is considered to be one of the founders of constructivism, and became one of the founding members of the Constructivist Working Group in 1921. His work was far from tradi 182

RODCHENKO, ALEXANDER, STEPS (1929), GELATIN SILVER PRINT

became a member of the Produc-

WRITER

GERTRUDE STEIN

orn in 1874 in Pennsylvania was the storied writer

Gerude Stein. Her family moved frequently, although Stein mostly grew up in Oakland, California. She graduated from Radcliffe College and later on enrolled at Johns Hopkins Medical School to study psychology, but ultimately dropped out. In 1903 she went with her brother Leo to Paris as he was pursuing life as an artist. Stein noticed that “Paris was the place,” to create 20tht century art and literature.” With her brother she began to collect modern art from now known artists such as Henri Maisse and Pablo Picasso. Gertrude opened a well known literary and artistic salon in Paris where many leaders in the modernist movement would meet. The array of talent between the attendees, including Ernestt Hemmingway, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Sinclair Lewis, among many others, would help define modernist literathrough the writing she created. Three Lives, published in 1909 is a notable example of Stein’s work that has been credited as innovative due to the rhythm of the writing. Her interest in psychology was seen through her boundary pushing approach to storytelling. She wrote many novel and memoirs among a range of topics. One of her stories, “Q.E.D”, was written in 1903 and is one of the earliest known coming outs stories.

186

STEIN SEATED IN HER PARIS SALON

ture and art. While she had interests in art, she succeeded

GERTRUDE STEIN’S PARIS APARTMENT FEATURING HER ART COLLECTION, 1905-6

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

VARVARA STEPANOVA arvara Stepanova was a soviet avant-garde artist, designer and poet. Together with her husband, Alexander Rodchenko, she was one of the founders of the Constructivist movement. She is probably most well-known for her clothing designs and textile patterns. Although in years right after the 1917 revolution, she was involved in a range of spheres, including poetry, philosophy, painting, graphic art, stage scenery construction, and textile and clothing designs, in 1921, Stepanova moved almost exclusively into the realm of clothing production, in which she felt her designs could achieve their Soviet society. According to Stepanova’s vision, Russian Constructivist clothing represented the destabilization of the oppressive, elite aesthetics of the past and, instead, reflected utilitarian functionality and production. Gender and class distinctions gave way to functional, geometric clothing. In line with this objective, Stepanova sought to free the body in her designs, emphasizing clothing’s functional rather than decorative qualities. Stepanova deeply believed clothing must be looked at in action. Unlike the aristocratic clothing that she felt sacrificed physical freedom for aesthetics, Stepanova dedicated herself to designing clothing for particular fields and occupational settings in such a way that the object’s construction evinced its function. In addition, she sought to develop expedient means of clothing production through simple designs and strategic, economic use of fabrics. 190

STEPANOVA POSES IN SPORTS CLOTHES OF HER OWN DESIGN, 1923.

broadest impact in aiding the development of the

192 LEFT: SPORT CLOTHES DESIGNS IN LEF MAGAZINE, 1923; RIGHT: TEXTILE PATTERN, 1924

DANCER | CHOREOGRAPHER | AUTHOR

TWYLA THARP

where she soon established herself as a dancer of considerable talent and

Tharp is an Ameri-

In addition to cho-

In 1965 she formed

can dancer, chore-

reographing

her own company,

ographer, and au-

her own company,

Twyla Tharp Dance.

thor who lives and

Tharp has created

Her works have ap-

works in New York

dances for The Jof-

peared on Broad-

City.

frey Ballet, Ameri-

way, film, television,

can Ballet Theatre,

and print and often

The Paris Opera Bal-

Growing

in her native Portland,

Indiana,

and

then in Los Angeles, Tharp’s

childhood

included

compre-

uses classical music,

for

let, The Royal Bal-

jazz, and contempo-

let, New York City

rary pop music. Her

Ballet,

The

Boston

dances are known

hensive training in

Ballet,

for

wit

music

and dance.

lian Ballet, Hubbard

and technical preci-

While a student at

Street Dance Chicago,

sion coupled with a

Barnard

The Martha Graham

streetwise

noncha-

with a degree in art

Dance Company, Mi-

lance. By combining

history, she studied

ami City Ballet, Pacific

different

Northwest Ballet, At-

movement

the

College

American

Ballet Theatre. In 1963, shortly before graduating

from

Barnard, she joined the Dance

194

modern dance.

imagination.

Paul

Taylor

Company,

creativity,

forms –

The

Austra-

such

lanta Ballet and Royal

as jazz, ballet, box-

Winnipeg Ballet. To-

ing and inventions

day, ballet and dance

of her own making

companies

around

– Tharp’s work ex-

the world continue

pands the bound-

to perform Tharp’s

aries of ballet and

works.

THE STORYTELLER, 1997

wyla

LEFT: AFTER ‘SUITE’, 1969 / RIGHT: DAVID BYRNE & TWYLA THARP BY RICHARD AVEDON, 1981

FILM DIRECTOR

FRANCOIS TRUFFAUT by Truffaut, letters to and from his acquaintances—figures such as Alfred Hitchcock and Jean Genet—photographs pertaining to all film

director,

producer,

actor,

significant

documents.

Arnaud

screenwriter, and film critic. He is

Desplechin, a prominent contem-

regarded as one of the founders

porary French filmmaker, sheds

of the French New Wave, char-

light on Truffaut’s prominence as

acterized by its rejection of tra-

a filmmaker: “There was some-

ditional filmmaking conventions

thing, in every cut, that allowed

in favor of experimentation and

each shot to exist of its own vo-

a spirit of iconoclasm. In his rel-

lition. Usually when you link two

atively short career, he has taken

shots, you’re putting them in the

part in the production of more

service of a story, but here, on the

than 30 films. His film The 400

contrary, the shots retain their in-

Blows, a autobiographical sto-

tegrity, their will. Every shot is a

ry about the criminal adventures

unit of thought.” To put it anoth-

of a 13-year old boy, is probably

er way, “there is a dramaturgical

the most famous work, and the

thought each time. The entire

icon of French New Wave move-

screen is occupied by this dra-

ment. The resurgence of interest

maturgical thought—nothing is

in Truffaut was signaled by the

given to some vague naturalism,

mounting of a major exhibition,

nothing to chance, nothing to the

“François Truffaut,” on the 30th

plot…There’s only cinema.”

anniversary of his death, at the Cinémathèque française in Paris, between 8 October 2014 and 10 February 2015. This exhibition displayed screenplays annotated 198

aspects of his life and work, and

FINAL FRAME OF THE FILM “400 BLOWS”, FRAGMENT

rancois Truffaut was a French

LEFT: JEAN-PIERRE LÉAUD, JACQUELINE BISSET AND FRANÇOIS TRUFFAUT IN ”LA NUIT AMÉRICAINE”, 1973, RIGHT: FFRAME FROM “JUDES AND JIM”, 2008

200

FILMMAKER

AGNÈS VARDA

elgian born, Agnts

Varda ended up in France due to the events of the second World War. This allowed her to gain a degree in literature and psychology from La Sorbonne. She then

202

Vaugirard School of Photography,

dated the movement, her work is

but soon realized she was much

often attributed to the Left Bank

more interested in film than still

cinema movement. Her work is

images. Varda realized soon after,

also considered feministic art-

however, that she knew very little

work, due to her use of female

about the medium: “When I’d fin-

roles and her development of a

ished writing it, I thought to my-

strong female voice throughout

self: ‘I’d like to shoot that script,’”

her work. In 2002 varda was the

Travelling to visit a terminally ill

recipient of the French Academy

friend, Varda found the inspira-

prize, the René Clair Award. She

tion for her first film, La Pointe

also received the Directors’ Fort-

Courte (1954), about a couple

night’s 8th Carosse d’Or award

working out their relationship is-

for lifetime achievement at the

sues within a small fishing village.

Cannes Film Festival, in 2010. In

Due to her impressive work, Ag-

addition to many other awards,

nès Varda is often considered the

Varda was also awarded an hon-

mother and/or grandmother of

orary degree from Liège Univer-

the French New Wave film move-

sity, a major French university in

ment. However, because she pre-

Belgium.

VARDA IN “UNCLE YANCO,” 1967.

went on to study photography at

STILL FROM “KUNG FU MASTER.” 1988.

GRAPHIC DESIGNER

MASSIMO VIGNELLI ignelli was a graphic design who created

systems that are still very relevant today. He studied architecture at the University of Venice in 1953-57, but interrupted his studies before graduating. Before this he did many shot internships with many of the best Italian architects and designers at the time including, Franco Albini, Giulio Minoletti and Giancarlo De Carlo. During his time at Unimark International’s New York branch, he worked with clients like American Airlines and the New York Subway. He left in 1971. At his firm Vignelli Asssociates he worked with companies such as IBM, Knoll and Bloomingdale’s. including

interior

design

and

product

design. He also worked on documentary Heletivca

with

filmmaker,

Gary

Hustwit.

He was a true modernist and focused on simplicity in his wok by using geometric forms and grids. He often worked with a limited range of typefaces including Akzidenz-Grotesk, Bodoni, Helvetica, Garamond and Century Expanded.

206

NYC SUBWAY MAP, MASSIMO VIGNELLI, 1972

His worked over multiple areas of design

VIGNELLI’S SKETCH CAMERA OF 35MM FILM

CVIGNELLI’S AMERICAN AIRLINE BRANDING DESIGN

NEW YORK SUBWAY SIGN

BRAND POSTER BY MASSIMO VIGNELLI, CA. 1970.

209

FASHION EDITOR

DIANA VREELAND

ashion expert and

editor Diana Vreeland was born Diana Dalziel in 1903 to an American socialite and a British stockbroker. With Paris as her birthplace, the family would

210

during the start of World War I.

Vreeland’s dancing abilities and

In New York Diana and her sister

fashion sense, offering her a job

Alexandra took ballet classes

with the magazine. She would

and learned how to horseback

become the fashion editor for the

ride. In 1922, the year of her

magazine until her resignation in

first performance, Vreeland was

1962. During her time at Harper’s

featured in a Vogue piece about

Bazaar, Vreeland was known

socialites and their cars.

for taking fashion seriously. She

In 1924 Diana married Thomas

wrote a column titled “Why

Reed Vreeland. Shortly after,

Don’t You?”, and notably advised

the two moved to London with

first lady Jacquline Kennedy on

their two sons, where Diana ran

style. From 1963 to 1971 Vreeland

a lingerie shop. While living in

was editor-in-chief at Vogue.

London, Vreeland frequently

She enjoyed the unique styles

made trips to Paris, where she

that the 660s had to offer. After

would buy her clothes directly

Vogue, Vreeland went on to be

from Coco Chanel. In 1935

a consultant at the Costume

Vreeland returned to New York.

Institute at the Metropolitan

One year later the editor

Museum of Art, where she

for Harper’s Bazaar spotted

arranged 12 exhibitions.

HARRY BENSON, DIANA VREELAND, NEW YORK, 1980

later move to New York in 1914

VREELAND IN HER APARTMENT LIVING ROOM

TEXTILE | GRAPHIC | INTERIOR DESIGNER

CAMILLE WALALA

amille Walala

is a textile, graphic

and interior designer influenced by the Memphis movement, the Ndebele tribe and optical art master Victor Vasarely. Born in the south of France and graduated from the University of Brighton with a degree in textile design, Walala established her namesake brand in East London in 2009 and continues to live and work there today. Walala often uses vibrant color and bold patterns, harnesses optimistic typography and exuberant geometries to create environments that simulate the senses and inspire joy. Her practice has taken her all over the world to transform homes and workspaces with her signature tribal-pop style. Recent years have seen her progress from her popular textile-based work to encompass art directranslates powerfully to larger surfaces and installations, she is now working with greater scope and at greater scale than ever before, with an overriding ambition to imbue the world’s urban landscapes with eye-popping colour and soulstrirring energy. Her works create a boundless energy that work perfectly for show-stopping and social spaces – “the bigger the better.”

214

MAZE PLAGROUND IN NOW GALLERY, 2017

tion and interior design. Finding that her style

LEFT: LEGO X WALALA - HOUSE OF DOTS, 2020 / RIGHT: INDUSTRY CITY, 2018

PHOTOGRAPHER

CARRIE MAE WEEMS

arrie Mae Weems is an American artist who works with a variety of mediums including text, fabric, audio and installation, but is best known for her photography. She was born on April 20, 1953, in Portland, Oregon, and is now considered one of the most prominent American artists. Throughout her career, Weems has recieved numerous awards and grants, as well as other prestigious recognitions including one of the first US Department of State’s Medals of Arts in recognition for her commitment to the State Department’s Art in Embassies program. Her photographs investiagtes family relationships, cultural identity, sexism, politics, and many more critical topics. The now 65 year old artist was the first African-American woman to have a retrospective at the Guggenheim, and has been an influential figure to many other prominent artists today. She appears in Spike Lee’s new Netflix series, and one of her photographs serve as the cover of Morgan Parker’s poetry collection, “There Are More Beautiful Things Than Beyoncé.”

CARRIE MAE WEEMS, “KITCHEN TABLE SERIES: UNTITLED (MAN SMOKING)” 1990 GELATIN SILVER PRINT

Weems, who credits her then-boyfriend, for gifting her with her first camera at the age of 20, is now one of the most inspiring photographers for an incredibly large audinece. Her photograhs are visualy compelling as she aims to redefine the African-American narrative, and to become a voice for women, the working class, and many more.

218

220

221

FILMMAKER

LINA WERTMULLER nominated for best director at the ertmüller Italian

Oscars and was the first woman

director

to be nominated. She has also

and screenwriter. Her works are

been nominated for best original

often comedies that plan on the

screenplay and best international

battles between the sexes as well

film. She also received an Hounoury

as contemporary political and social

Award at the 2019 Oscars. These

issues. She attended the Academy

films focused on many social issues

off Theatre in Rome and graduated

that resonant with audiences, such

in 1951. She went on the work

as immigration, racism, materialism

various jobs such as puppeteer

and class conflict. She featured

and stage manager. She assisted

strong female characters in a lot of

director Federico Fellini, an Italian

her work. Although she rejects the

filmmaker who created the classic 8

feminism movement and dislikes

1/2, on the film Otto e mezzo in 1963.

how the critical of her film’ Swept

After which she worked on her first

Away’, she moves. The film focuses

film, I basilischi (The Lizards), which

on a man fighting for dominance

focuses on the lives of three young

over a upper-class snobby woman.

men in their small, poverty-stricken

The film was later remade in 2002

village.

staring Madonna.

Although she had started

making film before, she started gaining

international

recognition

in the 70s with her films, The Seduction of Mini, Sept Away and Seven Beauties.

Seven Beauties,

a Holocaust drama, went on be nominated for an Academy Award. 222

DIRECTOR LINA WERTMULLER ON SET OF NIGHT OF FULL RAIN,1977. C. BETTMAN.

She is one of only five women

224

225

STILLS FROM THE SEDUCTION OF MIMI, 1972.

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