The Photography Books of Ed Ruscha

The Los Angeles artist Ed Ruscha, has never sought recognition as a serious photographer and, in fact, made it clear that he uses photographs as an armature for his work, an underlying structure that supports his paintings and graphics. Even so, the influence of his early artists books, Twentysix Gasoline Stations, Various Small Fires and Milk, Every Building On The Sunset Strip, all composed
primarily of photographs, has been profound. Cited in all the major
references, Ruscha's camera work introduced elements of conceptualism and process art into photography, which had in large part been a previously unexplored medium for those concepts. Ruscha's dead-pan, flatly ironic, and uninflected explorations of various locales, apparently chosen for their near total lack of inherent aesthetic interest, forced the question of what makes a photograph interesting.

By the mid 1970's, Ruscha had all but stopped making photographic books. By then, however, his work was known and discussed among artists and photographers around the world; Bernd and Hilla Becher, the German photographers and teachers, had early on used his work in the classroom, where their students included such currently promenient photographers as Thomas Ruff and Andreas Gursky. Ruscha's esthetic of exhaustively exploring a single, often banal setting had become a common exercise among photographers. Ruscha may have stopped taking photographs, but his lack of recent work hasn't diminished his influence.

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Photographer Robert Frank To Speak About The Americans At National Gallery March 26

Robert Frank's The Americans, is by general consensus the most important photography book of the modern era, the genre-defining example of the category. Much written about, much discussed, much coveted by collectors, surprisingly little has been heard from its creator on its origins, and how Frank sees it today, on the 50th anniversary of its publication. Robert Frank is well known for his disinclination to make public appearances, so his uncharacteristic talk/lecture on March 26 at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC is the subject of much anticipation and speculation.

Robert Frank's last public appearance several years ago was thought by many to be something of a performance piece; he gave monosyllabic responses to many questions, and did not respond at all to others, while his interlocutor obliviously plodded on. It was later rumored that the dull and entirely unenlightening experience had been conceived, planned, and executed by the pair. This time Frank is to share the stage with Sarah Greenough, a senior curator at the Gallery; the expectation is that whatever questions are asked of Robert Frank will actually be answered. Perhaps.

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Photographer Bruce Davidson Will Be Among Artists In Attendance At Howard Greenberg Book Signing Extravaganza

The Howard Greenberg Gallery will be hosting a Book Signing Extravaganza on March 28 from 4-6pm. The signing will highlight new publications from artists in attendance, including Saul Leiter, Bruce Davidson, Jessica Lange, Vince Aletti, and Eric Lindbloom. The Howard Greenberg Gallery is located in the Fuller Building, 41 East 57th Street, 14th floor(Suite 1406)in New York City.

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Diane Arbus And Hubert's Museum Work: Another Arbus Mystery

The mystery that clings to the life and career of Diane Arbus continues. The Phillips de Pury auction of original Diane Arbus photographs, taken at Hubert's Flea Circus and painstakingly assembled over a number of years by book dealer Bob Langmuir, was abruptly canceled last October, literally hours before it was scheduled to begin. A day or so before, a shouting match had erupted during an appearance by Gregory Gibson, the author of "Hubert's Freaks," an account of Langmuir's discovery and recovery of the Arbus photographs. Bayo Ogunsanya. the Brooklyn man Langmuir had accquired a number of photographs from, disrupted the reading with his claim that he had been cheated in his deal with Langmuir. Shortly thereafter the auction was canceled, with Phillips offering the transparently dubious explanation of a "private sale pending."

Phillips had gone to the expense of printing a catalog and had marketed the sale aggressively. Although media speculation had the cancellation being the result of a lawsuit by Ogunsanya against Langmuir, it was noted by some observers that the suit had been filed months before the auction, with the auction house well aware of it long before the sale was scheduled. Later, more informed speculation had Phillips becoming nervous about the lackluster results at the Berman sale of Arbus photographs at Christie's, and backing out of its guarantee to Langmuir.

Ogunsanya, however, recently announced his suit had been settled on favorable terms to him, but in keeping with the Arbus mystique, details were kept under wraps. Langmuir won't comment, and neither will Phillips. Ogunsanya let it slip he'll collect "a percentage of the gross" when the sale finally does take place but refused further comment. What's not known is when, or if, the auction will be rescheduled. Langmuir isn't saying. In the meantime the auction catalog, Diane Arbus: Hubert's Museum Work 1958-1963 (April 8, 2008, New York, Photographs, has become something of a collectible, as it's uncertain if the photographs will be shown any time soon, if ever. In that, as in all things Arbus, the mystery remains.

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Robert Frank's The Americans Featured In National Gallery Exhibition

Collectors of Robert Frank photography books should be sure not to miss The National Gallery of Art's Exhibition, "Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans," being held January 18 to April 26, 2009. The exhibit "celebrates the 50th anniversary of the book's publication by presenting all 83 photographs from The Americans in the order established by the book, and by providing a detailed examination of the book's roots in Frank's earlier work, its construction, and its impact on his later art." Can't make it to Washington in time? No worries. The exhibition will move to the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art May 16–August 23, 2009 and then to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, September 22–December 27, 2009.

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