How hot is Frank Sinatra? White hot, assuming America’s zeitgeist is to be believed. In addition to rumors that Martin Scorsese will direct a feature-length biopic about Sinatra, Alex Gibney recently assembled a two-part, four-hour HBO documentary about the singer. … Continue reading
Is there any street name in Manhattan more intimate-sounding than Little West 12th? I would venture to say that there is not. And yet, Little West 12th Street has been up to some mighty corporate things lately – part of … Continue reading
If Petrarch wanted to express his gratitude, he might write someone a sonnet; Emerson, a short story. Charles James, on the other hand, might design someone a dress, much like he did for Washington, DC socialite Sidney Kent Legare. James, … Continue reading
Flash, long believed to represent the bane of street photography, became an integral part of Mark Cohen’s approach throughout the 1970s. Cohen reimagined flash as a means by which to elicit a reaction. Provocation was the goal, or – at … Continue reading
Diane Arbus, much like Orson Welles, believed that black and white was every subject’s best friend. Her images maintained a haunting ambiance, exposing flaws without exploiting them. Arbus’s work defies convention, straddling the line between noteworthy and macabre. There are … Continue reading
Greenwich Village – a constant battle between classes, with the Old Guard all but gutted by an onslaught from the New. To this day, there are very few places that evoke a changing time so vigorously. This exhibition – featuring … Continue reading
It’s a funny thing about the French painter Balthus, in that he nearly gave up his budding career out of frustration. When Balthus reemerged at the age of 25, he focused almost entirely on portraits – lurid, filthy, decadent portraits. … Continue reading
When it comes to Vietnam there are so many different angles to consider – the jungles, the tracers, the ever-present war at home, Nixon and Ellsberg, the hippies and Kent State, and on and on and on and on. Perhaps … Continue reading
Vivian Maier was a curious bird – a classic loner, if not a voyeur, who lived vicariously through the veiled lens of her camera. Maier shot more than 150,000 images, many of them black and whites of urban life throughout … Continue reading
It’s a funny thing about street portraiture in that the artist’s work almost always represents the way the artist views himself. Brandon Stanton (AKA Humans of New York)? Well, now, right there you’ve got a working Joe with oodles of … Continue reading