Archive for May, 2023

Happy Mother’s Day

Posted on May 14, 2023 | No Comments

Happy Mother’s Day
From Scott Nichols Gallery

DOROTHEA LANGE, Portrait of a Young Girl and Mother.
1929, Vintage gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on mount recto

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Ted & Ed

Posted on May 11, 2023 | No Comments

Ted Cook with Contax, Laguna
A portrait by Edward Weston

EDWARD WESTON
Ted Cook with Contax, Laguna. 1937
9 5/8″ x 7 5/8″ Vintage gelatin silver print
Signed and dated in pencil on mount recto

This vintage 1937 original looks like it could have been taken today.
Who was Ted Cook?

We discovered that he was a journalist in Los Angeles. In 1923–1924 he worked as the editor in chief for the Los Angeles Record, and later wrote for the Los Angeles Examiner. He had his own nationally syndicated humor column “Cook-Coos” in the 1930s and ’40s. But he was also intertwined with the art scene, specifically photography.

In 1932, he was a member of the art committee for the New School for Social Research in Los Angeles, chaired by LA art critic Arthur Millier. The committee provided the platform to unveil Street Meeting, the first American fresco by Mexican painter David Alfaro Siqueiros. The mural was commissioned by and painted at the Chouinard School of Art in Los Angeles.

A few years later, in March 1935, we find Ted Cook now traveling to Mexico with Pancho Barnes and George Hurrell. They were on assignment: a paid editorial with photography about Mexico, funded by Dolores Del Rio. Ted Cook was the writer for the expedition. Hurrell’s career timeline mentions shooting photos with Edward Weston in January 1936, followed by another trip to Mexico for Hurrell and Cook in June 1936.

In the Edward Weston Archive at the Center for Creative Photography, they show a record of correspondence between Cook and Weston for a number of years. The two had become good friends.

With this timeline, we have additional context for the 1937 Edward Weston photograph Legs in Hammock, which shows Charis Wilson’s legs outstretched.

EDWARD WESTON
Legs in Hammock, Laguna. 1937

This vintage print is at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.
It is inscribed “At Ted Cook’s” on the mount verso.

There is one Ted Cook photograph held by the Eastman Museum, dated c. 1943.
He is mentioned in the 2006 book A Staggering Revolution: A Cultural History of Thirties Photography by John Raeburn.

Ted Cook passed away in 1966 at the age of 74.

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Flowers for Mother’s Day

Posted on May 10, 2023 | No Comments

Floral Silhouettes

Photograms by Floris M. Neusüss

FLORIS M. NEUSÜSS
Untitled (Freesia). 1997
16 1/2″ x 11 5/8″ Initialed & dated gelatin silver print

FLORIS M. NEUSÜSS
Untitled (Calla Lily). 1998
16 1/2″ x 11 5/8″ Initialed & dated gelatin silver print

FLORIS M. NEUSÜSS
Untitled (Tulip). 1998
16 1/2″ x 11 5/8″ Initialed & dated gelatin silver print

FLORIS M. NEUSÜSS
Untitled (Bearded Iris). 1997
16 1/2″ x 11 5/8″ Initialed & dated gelatin silver print

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Off to the Races!

Posted on May 4, 2023 | No Comments

Saturday, May 6th
The 149th Annual Kentucky Derby

JOHN GOODMAN
Tuscan Shower. 1993, printed later
20″ x 24″ Selenium toned gelatin silver print
Signed, titled, and dated, printed in an edition of 10

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Dogs & Cats

Posted on May 2, 2023 | No Comments

BILL HEICK
Dog and Cat, Mendocino, California. 1947, printed later
10″ x 8″ Signed & dated gelatin silver print

ELLIOTT ERWITT
Ballycotton, Ireland. 1968, printed later
12″ x 7 3/4″ Signed gelatin silver print

IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM
Stalking a Prey (Reddog). c. 1965
9 3/4″ x 7″ Vintage gelatin silver print with Green Street label

WILLY RONIS
Le Chat Supris, Gordes. 1951, printed 1985
11 1/4″ x 9 3/8″ Signed gelatin silver print

BARBARA MORGAN
Tossed Cats. 1942, printed c. 1972
16″ x 20″ Signed, titled & dated gelatin silver print

WOLF von dem BUSSCHE
Dog on Terrace. 1970, printed 1979
15 1/2″ x 22″ Signed gelatin silver print

IMOGEN CUNNINGHAM
Quiet (Vivo). 1955
8 5/8″ x 7 1/2″ Vintage signed & dated gelatin silver print