Thursday, September 29, 2011

Richard Serra, Jenny Saville & Bob Dylan Exhibitions at Gagosian, NYC + Farewell to Cabo Rojo


Richard Serra's "Cycle" 2010 © Richard Serra. Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery.
ART
FALL SEASON, 2011 
GAGOSIAN GALLERY 
NOW SHOWING:

Richard Serra: 
"Junction" & "Cycle"
Gagosian Gallery,
Chelsea - 24th St. NYC


Jenny Saville: "Continuum"
Gagosian Gallery, Uptown
Madison Ave. NYC


"Bob Dylan: The Asia Series"
Gagosian Gallery, Uptown
Madison Ave. NYC

Gagosian Gallery is one of the elite galleries of the world, owned by art superstar Larry Gagosian. His gallery has exhibition spaces in New York City, Paris, Beverly Hills, La Jolla, Rome, London, Athens, Hong Kong & Geneva. The gallery is considered by many artists and collectors as the top rung of the contemporary art gallery system in New York City. Here are the shows Gagosian has chosen to kick off the fall art season in NYC.

RICHARD SERRA: 
"JUNCTION" & "CYCLE" 
Through November 26, 2011

RICHARD SERRA - "Junction" (2011) weatherproof steel 13' 1/2" x 75' 1/2" x 49' 9 15/16"
© Richard Serra. Courtesy Gagosian Gallery Press Release. Photo by Lorenz Kienzle.
"I consider space to be a material.  The articulation of space has come to take precedence over other concerns.  I attempt to use sculptural form to make space distinct." 
                           – Richard Serra 

Gagosian Gallery's NY Chelsea venue is presently showing two new sculptures by Richard Serra: "Junction" (2011, rounded pinched shapes) and "Cycle" (2010, three interlocking "S" shapes). Serra has pushed his 13 foot high, ocean liner sized bent steel plates to a new haughtiness with these two complex and challenging works. Over the past fifteen years, the artist has developed his unique sculptural approach which has evolved into huge, curving, rusted steel slabs forming negative spaces made to walk through and around. It is difficult to visualize the actual shape of these pieces without an aerial view.

Born in 1938, Richard Serra is one of the most significant artists of his generation.  His groundbreaking works in both sculpture and drawing have been celebrated with major retrospectives at The Museum of Modern Art (NYC) and at The Metropolitan Museum of Art (NYC). This year, the Met show will travel to SFMoMA and the Menil Collection in Houston.  The artist has produced large-scale, site-specific sculptures for architectural, urban and landscape settings around the world.

The sculptures are intended to feel architectural and to be experience from ground level, where one gets a sense of the mass, curves, shapes, color, texture and play of light created by the steel structures. 

At a future date ARTSnFOOD will take an in-depth look at Richard Sarra's phenomenal sculptures and drawings, but if you have the space and want to buy a gigantic sculpture today, drop in at the Gagosian Gallery in Chelsea. (Gagosian does not disclose their prices except to serious buyers.)

Some of the museums which include one or more Richard Serra works in their collections: 



Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago, IL
Albright-Knox Art Museum, Buffalo, NY
DIA Beacon, Beacon, NY
Guggenheim Museum, New York, NY
Guggenheim Museum, Bilbao, Spain
Hirshhorn Museum and 
  Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, TX
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA
Museum of Modern Art, New York, NY
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, 
  San Francisco, CA
Whitney Museum of American Art,
  New York, NY

Gagosian Gallery
555 West 24th ST.   
NY, NY  10011    
212-741-1111 
newyork@gagosian.com.


JENNY SAVILLE: "CONTINUUM"
Through October 22, 2011




JENNY SAVILLE, "Red Stare Head IV", 2006-2011
Oil on canvas, 99 3/16 x 73 13/16 inches
© Jenny Saville 2011 
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery, Photo: Mike Bruce.
"(Flesh) is all things. Ugly, beautiful, repulsive, compelling, anxious, neurotic, dead, alive."
                     -Jenny Saville

Gagosian Gallery, Uptown, is showing recent paintings and drawings by Jenny Saville, her first exhibition in New York since 2003.

Fascinated by the endless aesthetic and formal possibilities that the human body offers, Saville paints highly sensuous and tactile surfaces in her monumental oil paintings. In the compelling "Stare" paintings she renders the contours and features of the face and the nuances of skin texture and color in strokes both bold and meticulous. Enlarging the facial features of her human subjects to a vast scale and rendering them in layer upon layer of paint, she shows a sense of mass and weight that is almost sculptural and at times abstract. Intense pinks, reds, and blues erupt through the pale skin tones, disclosing the internal workings of the painting like the flesh and blood of a living organism. 




JENNY SAVILLE: "Continuum", Installation view, 
© Jenny Saville 2011 
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery, Photo by Rob McKeever
In her other series, Saville portrays the intimate relationship between mother and child in life-sized drawings directly inspired by Renaissance nativity portraits, ie: Leonardo da Vinci’s cartoon of "The Virgin and Child with St. Anne and John the Baptist", an atypical scene in which the Virgin contends with a lively Christ-child. Also by a Michelangelo’s "Virgin and Child" – a pregnant woman and young child are shown in a dynamic parenting moment. Multiple impressions of each figure are drawn, erased, and superimposed again. Saville gives powerful graphic life to the anatomical details and expressive movements that animate her paintings.

Jenny Saville was born in Cambridge, England in 1970. She studied at the Glasgow School of Art. Her work has been included in exhibitions worldwide. Her first solo U.S. museum exhibition will open at the Norton Museum in West Palm Beach, Florida later this year.

Gagosian Gallery
980 Madison Avenue
NY,NY 100075
212-744-2313

"BOB DYLAN: 
THE ASIA SERIES"
Through October 22, 2011




The Exhibition Catalog comes with a choice of four covers.
"BOB DYLAN: THE ASIA SERIES "
© Bob Dylan 2011 
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

"I consider myself a poet first and a musician second. I live like a poet and I'll die like a poet." 
                           – Bob Dylan

© Bob Dylan 2011
Bob Dylan is one of the most influential cultural figures to come out of the Rock and Roll Era of the 1960's. Over the last 48 years he has released over 45 albums and written over 500 songs including “Blowin’ in the Wind,” “All Along the Watchtower,” “Knockin’ on Heaven’s Door”, "Like a Rolling Stone", etc. - selling over 110 million records around the world. His accolades include global honors and recognition plus numerous Grammy Awards, a Golden Globe and an Academy Award. In 2008 Dylan received a special Pulitzer Prize Citation, for his "profound impact" on American culture through his poetic music. 




"BOB DYLAN:
THE ASIA SERIES" 
© Bob Dylan 2011 
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Dylan has used his creative talents as a poet, singer, songwriter, musician, author, film director, actor, radio broadcaster and now as a painter. As an author, his memoir, "Chronicles: Volume One" - stayed on The NY-Times Best Seller List for 19 weeks. 

With his visual art, Dylan has only recently started showing. He has exhibited his "Drawn Blank Series" in Germany’s Kunstsammlungen Chemnitz and his "Brazil Series" is currently up at The National Gallery of Denmark in Copenhagen. 




"BOB DYLAN: THE ASIA SERIES" 
© Bob Dylan 2011 
Courtesy of Gagosian Gallery
Last week New York's Gagosian Gallery opened "Bob Dylan: The Asian Series" at their Uptown, Madison Avenue location. This exhibition is a visual journal of the songwriter's travels in Japan, China, Vietnam and South Korea. Dylan has had many successes in his lifetime and his exploration of the visual arts will be looked at as a way to gain insight into his music and it will be compared to that exceptional talent. For certain, the "Poet Laureate of the Baby-Boom Generation" has started his art career at the very top and he should consider this invitation to mount an exhibition at Gagosian as one of the highest honors a visual artist can be offered in today's art world! A 100 page catalog of the show is available through the gallery for $80.

Gagosian Gallery
980 Madison Avenue
NY,NY 100075
212-744-2313
newyork@gagosian.com
(Sources: Gagosian Gallery's press department, the Bob Dylan website.)

Dance

Sir Paul McCartney
Creates a New Ballet
The New York City Ballet produces the World Premier of OCEAN'S KINGDOM. Music by Paul McCartney, Costumes by Stella McCartney and Choreography by Peter Martins.
Sir Paul McCartney is still "PLAYING" and making music intuitively. His new ballet opened last week in New York, adding another major work to his portfolio, written to be performed by an orchestra.


Ocean’s Kingdom“ is McCartney's first ballet score and libretto. The choreography was created by New York City Ballet’s Master-in-Chief, Peter Martins. The gala premier was at Lincoln Center on September 22, 2011.

Martins’ choreography follows the music’s libretto of a romance between lovers from conflicting kingdoms. The production’s graphic costumes were designed by McCartney's famous, fashion designer daughter, Stella McCartney. "Ocean's Kingdom" is the first time she has designed costumes for a theatrical production.

How does this pop star switch from writing relatively simple rock music to writing orchestration? The technical part, ie: the meter, actual notes and any musical notations are written by his computer or by a professional musical notator. McCartney simply composes the music on his keyboard. He plays by ear, finding his way through the music alone. Composing this intuitive way, with just his instrument and a piece of paper for notes, is the same approach he has used since his first songs written with John Lennon and the Beatles. It keeps the focus on the music and obviously works in the classical realm as well.

There are four movements in Ocean's Kingdom, the Ballet:
Movement 1: Ocean’s Kingdom
Movement 2: Hall of Dance
Movement 3: Imprisonment
Movement 4: Moonrise

The album, "Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom", is scheduled to be released on October 4, 2011, performed by the London Classical Orchestra and directed by John Wilson. It will be available through Amazon.com. Both a CD and a vinyl versions will be available. It is on the "Hear Music / MPL / Telarc"  label.
(Source: Ocean Kingdom press release and YouTube video)

FOOD
Pollo Asado
Puerto Rican Style Roasted Chicken
at the Puerto Rican Restaurant, Cabo Rojo in NYC.



Farewell to Cabo Rojo Restaurant (now closed)
in New York's Chelsea Arts District.
I had many great Puerto Rican lunches of chicken, yellow rice and black beans at Cabo Rojo. The restaurant was a hole-in-the-wall, fluorescent-lit, Puerto Rican diner facing the Chelsea Arts District. It was located on the east side of 10th Avenue at 24th and had been there since 1959. Sadly, this year it closed. 

The decoration around the cash register consisted of old Puerto Rican money taped to the wall, along with the first US dollar they ever made, plus a plastic saint draped with rosary beads, pictures of the Virgin Mary, ancient post cards of Puerto Rico and a mason jar for tips. The middle-aged Puerto Rican waitresses were always friendly and pleasant to the customers, but in the next breath they would bark sternly in Spanish to the men cooking in the kitchen or to the male manager (owner?) at the register. Cheap dinette chairs were tucked under the three tables and the long, worn linoleum counter was lined with chrome stools topped with cracked black leather seats.  When you received the menu the waitress also brought a 1960s, pastel colored, plastic refrigerator pitcher of ice water and clear plastic water glasses. No matter the day of the week, their most popular offering was their juicy broiled chicken, Pollo Asado, accompanied by a mountain of yellow rice and a big bowl of black or red beans. I never ordered anything else, and if with someone, I always split the dish - it was far more food than one person could possibly eat. If you just drank the ice water, two people could eat a fantastic lunch for under $10. This is unheard of in NYC.  After the meal, when I had the time, I would order "Cafe con Leche", a dark, rich Puerto Rican espresso with steamed milk, served in a thick, white, old school restaurant coffee cup, giving customers ten minutes of pure pleasure.

During the last 15 years, this section of west Chelsea has changed from a forgotten outpost of Manhattan, full of gas stations, auto repair shops, car washes, cold storage buildings, diners and bodegas into the center of the universe for the white box contemporary gallery scene. Rents for business spaces have gone from barely rentable to astronomically priced, top shelf locations. The best galleries in the world have moved in, along with expensive condominium projects, bringing with them the "rich and famous" collectors who now walk up and down 10th Avenue and down the blocks of cross streets from 19th through 29th, over to 11th Avenue and West Side Highway.

It is only a matter of time before all of the above mentioned older tenants will have closed or moved-on from this new "chic" area of New York City. 

I bid a fond farewell to "Cabo Rojo", an enjoyable and authentic "Nuyorican" dining experience and to their classic Puerto Rican lunch (below):

Pollo Asado / Roasted Chicken 
 1/4 chicken $7.25   
 1/2 chicken $9.50
Arroz Amarillo / Yellow Rice
 included with meal
Habichuelas Rositas / Negras
 included with meal
Pitcher of ice water
included with meal
Puerto Rican Cafe con Leche  $2.50


Recipe for Pollo Asado,
Puerto Rican Roasted Chicken:

2 broiler fryers, 3 lbs each, each split in half
(or 6 lbs of skin-on chicken legs, thighs & breasts)
1/2 cup olive oil
Salt & ground pepper to taste
1 tsp dried oregano
1/2 tsp dried tarragon
2 tbs cider vinegar
2 cloves garlic, peeled and crushed

- Wash chicken and pat dry with paper towels. Place in a large bowl.
- Mix oil, salt, pepper, oregano, tarragon, vinegar and crushed garlic and pour over chicken, rubbing the seasoning thoroughly into the skin. Cover bowl, refrigerate and marinate overnight.
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees. Remove chicken from marinade and place in a shallow roasting pan, skin side up. Brush or pour marinade over chicken and roast for 30 minutes or until golden brown and the juices run clear.
---------------
To Broil:
- Place chicken skin side down on a lightly oiled, edged baking sheet, no less than 7 inches from the heat source.
- Heat marinade to insure safety.
- Broil for 15 minutes, brush frequently with marinade.
- Turn chicken skin side up, broil an additional 15 minutes, brushing frequently with marinade. 
- Juices must run clear.
---------------
 To Grill:
Grill marinated chicken over moderate coals for 15 minutes, skin side down, basting often with marinade, turn and grill 15 minutes skin side up, basting often with marinade.

Serve chicken with yellow rice, black beans and pan drippings. 
Yield: 4 to 6 servings.

Recipe for Puerto Rican
Baked Whole Chicken, 
Pollo al Horno,

Ingredients:
- 1 whole roasting chicken
- 2 sprigs of fresh thyme
- 1 onion cut into wedges
- 1 bay leaf
- 2 tbls butter
- 1/2 cup chicken broth
- 1/4 cup water 

(Make basic Puerto Rican rub)
- 16 cloves garlic
Remove garlic's brown end tip and crush in a mortar with pestle, 
Add 2 tbls salt and work into the paste
Add 1/2 tbls black peppercorns / crush into the mixture.
Add 3 tbls of oregano
Add 1/4 cup olive oil (or chili oil)
Add 1/4 cup sour orange juice or cider vinegar
You can also add some lime or lemon juice
Mix ingredients well to make rub.

Directions:
- Rinse Chicken inside and out under cold running water. Pat dry with paper towels.

- (Suggestion) Anchor your cutting board with a damp paper towel on the table which creates friction so the board does not slip.

- Place the chicken on the cutting board, and spread the "rub" under the skin of the breast & leg & thigh of the chicken - massage it into the meat and smear the "rub" inside the cavity also.

Place the bay leaf and thyme inside the cavity.

- Preheat oven to 425 degrees

Truss the chicken. 
- To truss: put the center of a trussing string in front of neck and pull over the wings, then around and under the legs, drape over the legs and pull the drumsticks together, wrap to keep them together, then cross over the top of the wings and tie underneath. Trussing the bird forms a neat football-like package. 

- Put the chicken into a shallow roasting pan. Rub olive oil over the entire chicken. 
- Place the chicken on its side and scatter the neck, gizzard, liver and chopped onion halves around it. 
- Roast for 20 minutes, basting occasionally. Turn the chicken on its other side and roast another 20 minutes, basting occasionally.  Remove as much floating fat as possible. Place the chicken on its back and put pats of butter on chicken and add chicken broth and water. Roast for at least 20 minutes longer , check for doneness - the internal temperature should be 165 degrees in thickest part of the thigh and juices should run clear. If needed, finish cooking in the up-right position. The chicken should be golden brown all over.

- Take chicken from oven and let it rest for 10 minutes.

- Remove and discard the trussing, bay leaf and thyme. Carve.

Scrape up bits in the roasting pan and stir. Pour into bowl. To serve, mix and ladle pan drippings over chicken and rice. 

To carve:
- Cut the leg with thigh attached from the breast.
- Remove the backbone, by making a cut in the cartilage where breasts meet, push apart and cut out the keel bone.
- Pull out the cartilage at bottom, near the tail. 
- Trim off the wings.
- Loosen bones from meat and hand pull the breast meat off of the bones.

Serve chicken with yellow rice, black beans and pan drippings. (Yield: 4 large servings. Sources: Recipes adapted from Daisy Martinez, Puerto Rican TV personality & Oswald Rivera's "Puerto Rican Cuisine".)

Until later,
Jack

ARTSnFOOD, All rights reserved. Concept & Original Text © Copyright 2011 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.

POSTSCRIPT
The poetry of Bob Dylan:

Bob Dylan was born Robert Allen Zimmerman on May 24, 1941. American singer-songwriter, musician and poet. He has been a  profoundly influential figure in popular music and culture for five decades. Much of his most celebrated work dates from the 1960's when he was the reluctant figurehead for social unrest. A number of his songs, such as "Blowin' in the Wind" and "The Times They Are a-Changin'", became anthems for the US civil rights and anti-war movements of the day. Dylan's first big hit, recorded with him singing was in 1965 "Like a Rolling Stone". His thoughtful lyrics incorporated a variety of political, social, philosophical, and literary influences and appealed to the burgeoning counterculture of the 60's. He was inspired by the songs of Woody Guthrie, Robert Johnson, and Hank Williams. His 50+ year recording career has explored numerous distinct traditions in American song—from folk, blues and country to gospel, rock and roll, and rockabilly, to English, Scottish, and Irish folk music, even embracing jazz and swing. Dylan performs with a guitar, keyboards, and a harmonica. Backed by a changing group of musicians, Bob Dylan has toured steadily since the late 1980's on what has been dubbed the Never Ending Tour. His greatest contribution to American culture is generally considered to be his poetic songwriting.

A sample of Bob Dylan poetry: 
The lyrics for "Like A Rolling Stone"

Once upon a time you dressed so fine
You threw the bums a dime in your prime, didn’t you?
People’d call, say, “Beware doll, you’re bound to fall”
You thought they were all kiddin’ you
You used to laugh about
Everybody that was hangin’ out
Now you don’t talk so loud
Now you don’t seem so proud
About having to be scrounging for your next meal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be without a home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You’ve gone to the finest school all right, Miss Lonely
But you know you only used to get juiced in it
And nobody has ever taught you how to live on the street
And now you find out you’re gonna have to get used to it
You said you’d never compromise
With the mystery tramp, but now you realize
He’s not selling any alibis
As you stare into the vacuum of his eyes
And ask him do you want to make a deal?
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
You never turned around to see the frowns on the jugglers and the clowns
When they all come down and did tricks for you
You never understood that it ain’t no good
You shouldn’t let other people get your kicks for you
You used to ride on the chrome horse with your diplomat
Who carried on his shoulder a Siamese cat
Ain’t it hard when you discover that
He really wasn’t where it’s at
After he took from you everything he could steal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?
Princess on the steeple and all the pretty people
They’re drinkin’, thinkin’ that they got it made
Exchanging all kinds of precious gifts and things
But you’d better lift your diamond ring, you’d better pawn it babe
You used to be so amused
At Napoleon in rags and the language that he used
Go to him now, he calls you, you can’t refuse
When you got nothing, you got nothing to lose
You’re invisible now, you got no secrets to conceal
How does it feel
How does it feel
To be on your own
With no direction home
Like a complete unknown
Like a rolling stone?

The rights to the above Bob Dylan lyrics are currently owned by Special Rider Music - Original copyright © 1965 by Warner Bros. Inc.; © renewed in 1993 by Special Rider Music.

Thursday, September 22, 2011

Marvin E. Newman Photographer + Oktoberfest Beer, Brats, Sauerkraut



"Roseland Ballroom" is a single photo which looks like a collage or multiple exposure. Newman’s colorful night photo of Times Square “neon” in New York City.


Marvin took a series of photos, titled "Shadows", as a young artist on the streets of Chicago in 1951.


Newman broke new ground with color photos in the 1950s, when black and white ruled the medium. His compositions used "color" as the conceptual “subject”, showing Burgoyne Diller's influence on his work. This photo was shot at Coney Island in the 1950s using Kodachrome (transparency) film. Color prints, at that time, were fugitive (meaning the colors shifted and faded over time) thus were not a collectable art medium. Kodachrome slides kept their brilliant color, but had to be stored in the dark. Archival color printing first happened in the seventies with an expensive dye transfer process and more recently with pigmented inks for professional, archival digital prints.


The photographer spent some quality time one-on-one with Cassius Clay (Muhammad Ali) at his gym. This portrait of Clay is also a self portrait. The "posters" in the background were actually props from a boxing movie starring actor Anthony Quinn.


High contrast film, made for document reproduction, was used in a series of art photos, including this 1954 photo of a snow fence.


As a part of an assignment from Esquire Magazine on the NY Stock Exchange, this photo was shot by Marvin through a hole in the ceiling.


Marvin captured #9, Bill Mazerowski, hitting the home run that won the 1960 World Series for Pittsburg. A perfect sports photo showing the "decisive moment”: the batter is still swinging; about to run; you see the ball in the air headed out of the park; and the scoreboard telling it all.


His famous photos of President Kennedy’s funeral were not a part of any assignment, but were taken own his own, because he was personally moved by the tragic event. These photos were picked up by LOOK Magazine and published as a part of their coverage of a nation grieving.


One of Newman’s vintage photographs.

ART:
Marvin E. Newman
Photographer as Artist

Have you ever been seated on a plane next to a person you didn't know and after an interesting conversation, you find you have just met one of those "Interesting Characters" you only meet a few times during a lifetime? The story of how I met photographer Marvin E. Newman is very similar. I was introduced to Marvin and his family at our condominium's social gatherings and over time, at various get-togethers, we would talk about his life and his career. The following article is a condensed version of Marvin's stories, as told to me in those many casual conversations and in one formal interview.

Marvin E. Newman, today.

Marvin E. Newman is indeed a great photographer: photojournalist; art photographer; advertising photographer; photo essayist (books); and sports photographer. He has won the Gold Medal for photography from the New York Art Director's Club, as well as most of the photographic industry's other top honors. Two years ago he was awarded the "Lucie Award" at Alice Tully Hall in New York’s Lincoln Center, for being a "Legendary Photographer". Past Lucie Award honorees have included Henri Cartier-Bresson, Gordon Parks and many other greats. (The Lucie Awards are an annual ceremony honoring the greatest achievements in photography. Each year the global photography community pays tribute to the most outstanding photographers of the world. Marvin E. Newman was honored for his sports photography.)  

Sports Illustrated, in their July, 26 1999 issue, recognized Newman as taking the "The 20th Century's Greatest Sports Photograph!" Wow! Sports subjects are a natural for Marvin, because sports have always been one of his talents and passions. As a photographer he is comfortable around athletes, he relates to them and knows what they go through. This empathy has made all of the difference in his access, professional relationships and has led to his extraordinary sports photographs.


Moment Of Truth
There is no sports action in this photo of the TCU locker room
at halftime against Syracuse in the 1957 Cotton Bowl,
but what Marvin Newman captured in this moment was "the essence of sports".
Sports Illustrated chose this picture as
 "The 20th Century's Greatest Sports Photograph".
Back in the locker room, a roomful of young men from Texas Christian University are trying to stop the best football player in history, a fellow from Syracuse by the name of Jim Brown, in his last college game and his second game to be nationally televised. "We picked this, out of all the crackerjack sports pictures we might've chosen, as our favorite of the century.... You can walk around inside this picture in a way you can't in those others, peer right inside the tunnel these boys have entered. Their boxer shorts are hanging right there, on the hooks behind their heads, but their faces are showing something even more personal than that. Almost reminds you of a painting by Norman Rockwell. Can you smell it? No, not the... (sweaty uniforms), or the cigar reek wafting off the coach, Orthol Martin.... It's the smell of men about to go to war." (Marvin says, because coaches want "NO DISTRACTIONS" at this critical moment, this is a scene few photojournalist witness, but his quiet 35mm Lieca and his athletic ability to become rigidly still while using a mono-pod was his secret to making this “existing light” photo, using a very "slow" Kodachrome color film.) No "The 20th Century's Greatest Sports Photograph" was not an action shot at the World Series or a feat of athleticism at the Olympics or of a star athlete. Sports Illustrated’s editors concluded, "The older you get, the more you realize that this is what sports are most about: the moments before... when a person takes a flashlight to his soul and inspects himself for will and courage and spirit.... Who am I? And, Is that going to be enough?" Yes, TCU won the day.
























Marvin Elliott Newman was born in the Bronx, NYC in 1927.  His father owned a bakery and expected his son to help him in the bakery after high school, figuring he would eventually take over the operation. Luckily for the art world and for sports fans this was not his choice.

Marvin was an athlete (football and track) but his grades suffered from his concentration on sports. He first signed up for art classes in an effort to raise his grades. By the time he entered Brooklyn College in 1946, at the age of 16, he was very enthusiastic about art, especially sculpture. Brooklyn College, a NYC school, had become a refuge for Bauhaus artists who had escaped the Nazis in Europe by moving to New York City during World War II. In the college's art department, Marvin was surrounded by some of the greatest artists of the time. His main instructor was Burgoyne Diller, who had headed up the WPA. Although not a Bauhaus artist, Diller had studied under Hans Hoffman. He took Marvin under his wing and taught him geometric abstraction, based on the De Stijl movement. This intense design training under Diller had a huge influence on Marvin and resulted in the strong sense of balance, composition and color in his photography.

As a prerequisite for Diller’s sculpture class, Newman was required to take photography. Teaching this course was the famous photographer Walter Rosenblum, known for his WWII D-Day photographs. Walter was a major player in New York's Photo Leagu(started by Paul Strand and Bernice Abbot). Rosenblum encouraged Marvin to join the Photo League and to start taking "socially conscious" photographs. His Photo League membership also came with access to a professionally equipped b&w dark room, located in New York's Hotel Albert. The young student immersed himself in photography, using every spare minute to take pictures with his twin lens reflex Rollei and to spend whole nights making prints in the b&w photo lab.

After graduation, Diller recommended Newman for graduate school and for a scholarship at Chicago's Institute of Design, another "New Bauhaus" school started by Moholy-Nagy, with the backing of Chicago industrialist Walter Paepke. Marvin had no money, so he hitch-hiked to Chicago and got a job parking cars at night and on weekends to pay for his room, board and supplies. The artist's focus was now only on photography, studying under master practitioners Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind. Callahan and Siskind are known as two of the innovators and inventors of contemporary photography in America. Callahan encouraged his students to get out on the streets and turn their cameras on their own personal lives and neighborhoods. Newman still considers Harry Callahan as the gold standard in photography and the most influential mentor in his life and career. In 1953, Marvin E. Newman became the first student ever to earn a Master of Science Degree in Photography in the United States.

Newman returned to New York City and soon his work was selected to be in a show organized by Edward Steichen at the Museum of Modern Art. In the “Always the Young Stranger” MoMA show, Marvin exhibited his "Shadows" series. 

Now a professional photographer, he did his first editorial work for SPORT magazine until Sports Illustrated hired him away the same year. From that day until the present (Sports Illustrated called during our formal interview.) Marvin has worked for Sports Illustrated and all of the the TIME-LIFE and now TIME-WARNER magazines, as one of their stable of freelance photographers.

For his entire career Newman has had unprecedented access to many of the greatest events of the last half of the 20th century, especially sporting events. From the Olympics, to the World Series, to the best of NFL Football, to the most famous boxing matches, Marvin E. Newman has been there: close to the action, with an eye for drama, a steady hand and with his camera.

Below are two interesting stories Newman shared with me.

1) Marvin photographed a different NFL game every week of the season. Before the digital age, he had to fly back to Chicago with the film, so Sports Illustrated could develop it and place the photos into the magazine, before the giant presses started printing on Sunday evening. (The magazine was printed by R.R. Donnelley & Sons Press in Chicago.) One day, at a game in San Francisco, the last flight to Chicago left at 2:30 pm and kick-off was at 1 pm. About 2 pm he finally captured a photo, worthy of publication and he had a police car waiting to take him to the airport. He jumped into the police car, then with sirens blaring and lights flashing the officer took him on a 100 mile per hour ride, flying over the hills and through the air, dodging and swerving around cars and trucks on the freeway! Marvin was petrified, but he made his flight. The magazine, with his photo inside, was on the newsstands that week, appearing as if it was all so easy.

2) In the summer of 1960, Marvin was working in the Time-Life Paris office. One day he, his camera and telephoto lenses went to a sunny beach full of beautiful women wearing the newest French fashion statement, bikinis. He took two pictures of each swimsuit. The first, a close up of the tops and the second a close up of the bottoms. He matched them up as sets and sent the pictures off to Playboy Magazine to see if they would be interested. After a week or more he had heard nothing, so he called the Art Director to see if the photos had been received. The AD said he had not seen them, but would look for them. When the AD called back he said he had found them, Hefner had them laid out on his bed and he loved them! The AD wanted to know if Marvin would accept $10,000 for the reproduction rights, plus their page rate? Playboy ran the series on six consecutive color pages!

Marvin E. Newman is represented by:
Bruce Silverstein Gallery
535 W 24th St # 1
New York, NY 10011-1140
(212) 627-3930
Open Tue-Sat 11am-6pm

Stephan Daiter Gallery
230 W. Superior, Fourth Floor
Chicago IL 60654
(312) 787-3350
Open Wed-Sat 11am-5pm

Photographs associated with this story on Marvin E. Newman are © Copyright Marvin E. Newman and are the exclusive intellectual property of the artist, all rights reserved. These images were used with his permission. For information please contact the artist directly or Bruce Silverstein Gallery in NYC, or Getty Images Worldwide. (No use, file transfer or image storage in any form is granted without permission.)

You will find more Marvin Newman photographs in our postscript section along with his resume.

FOOD

Oktoberfest - Bring on the 
German Beers, Brats and Sauerkraut

Oktoberfest! It all started when Prinz Ludwig of Germany shared some beer with his subjects on the occasion of his wedding in 1810. 

Oktoberfest is a 16–18 day beer festival held in Bavaria running from late September to the first weekend in October. Only beer which is brewed within the city limits of Munich is allowed to be served at the Munich festival. Upon passing this criteria, a beer is designated "Oktoberfest Beer". 

For food, celebrants enjoy a wide variety of traditional fare such as Hendl (chicken), Schweinebraten (roast pork), Schweinshaxe (grilled ham hock), Steckerlfisch (grilled fish on a stick), Würstl (sausages / bratwurst) along with Brezn (Pretzel), Knödel (potato or bread dumplings), Kasspatzn (cheese noodles), Reiberdatschi (potato pancakes), Sauerkraut or Blaukraut (red cabbage) along with such Bavarian delicacies as Obatzda (a spiced cheese-butter spread) and Weisswurst (a white sausage).

Beers: 
For your Octoberfest, here are some recommended beers from both Germany and the United States:

Paulaner - Hefe Weisen (wheat beer)

They also have a special Paulaner Oktoberfest-Märzen (link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/124/386 ) 

Victory's Pima Pils (Pennsylvania Pilsner)

Blue Point "Oktoberfest Style" Beer  (Long Island)

Ayinenger Lager, (a German Oktoberfest Brew) from Bavaria and has 6.2% alcohol.  Ayinenger makes 12 different beers including seasonal specific:
Ayinenger Oktober Fest-Märzen (link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/39/1361), which may be difficult to find in the US. Other beers they produce include: 4 pale lagers, 3 dark lagers and 4 wheat beers.

Spaten Oktoberfestbier Ur-Märzen (link http://beeradvocate.com/beer/profile/142/582 ) 

Spaten is famous for their lagers. 

Bratwurst:
Snake River Farms creates a flavorful sausage using classic German recipes. This is a boon for those who enjoy classic homemade bratwurst. Each of their one pound packages contains five sausages for $7.

Snake River Farms
1555 Shoreline Drive
Boise, ID 83702-9109
877-736-0193

Sauerkraut:
It is hard to imagine that the fermented state of a vegetable is more delicious and contains more nutrients than the same vegetable in its natural state, but sauerkraut does! It is also very plentiful and affordable. Cabbage is vitamin rich vegetable with folic acid and phytonutrients which help to boost the body’s immune system. Research shows that vegetables from the cruciferous family (those whose flower forms in the shape of a cross) all appear to be very rich in anti-oxidants – thus a great defense against cancer.

Have the Germans known something for a long time that the rest of the world is just now learning? Cabbage (one of the world’s oldest cultivated vegetables) is very healthy. Many people, even some who are not German, think cabbage has it's best flavor when made into sauerkraut!

Below are a few recipes:

Edith's Gebratenes Sauerkraut 
(Fried Sauerkraurt with Onions, Apples & Champagne, Original recipe courtesy of Edith Oswald.) 

INGREDIENTS
  • 2 tbsps Vegetable Oil
  • 8-10 strips of Bacon cut into 1" sections (or 1 Square of Smoked Bacon: 3"- 4")
  • 1 tsp Juniper Berries (Wachhholderbeeren)
  • 1/4 tsp Caraway Seeds (Kuemmel)
  • 1 Sweet Apple, shredded
  • 1 tsp Honey
  • 1 lb "wine" sauerkraut
  • 1 Yellow Onion, chopped
  • 3 1/3 oz. (100ml) Champagne (or sparkling wine)
  •     1/4 cup water
DIRECTIONS
1.     Fry onion and bacon in oil. Onions should not get brown.
2.     Shred apple and add all other ingredients along with 1/4 cup of water (enough water so the kraut does not burn).
3.     Cook on the stovetop for 45 to 60 minutes.
4.     Pour in the champagne and cook a few minutes more.

Sauerkraut #2 

The following is a simple sauerkraut recipe that delivers a seriously flavorful tang and texture. A great additon to any pork meal.

Ingredients
  • 1 28 oz jar or can sauerkraut
  • 1 large onion, diced
  • 2 tbsp bacon grease
  • 1 tsp salt
  • 1 tsp Sweet Paprika
  • 1/4 tsp Hot Paprika
Directions:
Rinse and drain sauerkraut thoroughly. Set aside. In a large pot, heat bacon grease and sauté onions just until they start to sweat. Add paprika and allow to bloom for a few minutes. Continue cooking until the onions are translucent, then add the sauerkraut, stirring constantly with a large wooden spoon. Cook for 10-20 more minutes, depending on how much water is in the sauerkraut.

Serving Suggestions: Good with Fried Pork Butt, Pork Ribs, Pork Chops & Fresh Home-Made German Pork Sausage.

Until later,
Jack
ARTSnFOOD, All rights reserved. Concept & Original Text © Copyright 2011 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.

POSTSCRIPT:
Marvin E. Newman's resume.
Plus more of his photographs.

Education:
Brooklyn College, Economics, Design (Art) Bachelor of Arts 1949. 
    Burgoyne Diller, Walter Rosenblum.
Illinois Institute of Technology, (Institute of Design, New Bauhaus) Chicago.
Master of Science in Photography 1951.
    Harry Callahan, Aaron Sisskind.

Prizes, fellowships, awards, honors:
1st Prize American Photography Magazine. 1950
1st Prize Time Life Contest 1951
New York Art Directors Gold Medal for Editorial Photography 1966
Professional Achievement Award, Illinois Institute of Technology 2006
ASMP National President (The American Society of Media Photographers) 1983
Lucie Award for Photographic Achievement in Sports 2009

Representation in collections:
The Museum Of Modern Art, New York
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
The Art Institute of Chicago
The National Gallery, Washington, DC
Eastman House Museum, Rochester
International Center of Photography, New York
The Hallmark Collection, Kansas City
The Whitney Museum, New York
The Houston Museum, Texas
The Columbus Museum, Ohio

Galleries:
Bruce Silverstein, New York
Stephan Daiter, Chicago

Previous gallery affiliations:
Keith de Lellis, New York
Arthur Williams, New York
Roy de Carava, New York

Art shows:
• 2010 "Beyond COLOR." Participant, group show. Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY.
• 2010 "Discoveries." Participant, group show. Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY.
• 2010 "Passing the Torch:: The Chicago Students of Callahan and Siskin." Participant, vintage photography show. Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, IL.
• 2009 Lucie Award for Achievement in Photography. “Marvin E. Newman and Yasuhiro Ishimoto” Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, IL.
• 2008 “Marvin E. Newman: The Color Series.” Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY.
• 2006 “Marvin E. Newman: The First Decade.” Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York, NY.
• 2000 One man show, “Marvin E. Newman, Seven Photo Essays” Keith de Lellis Gallery, New York.
• 2000 “American Photographs 1900/2000” Assouline Publishers; two published photographs
• 1999 “Newman and Ishimoto, Reunion in Chicago: Photographs from 1949-1952”. Two man show at Stephen Daiter Gallery, Chicago, Illinois.
• 1998 “New Acquisitions Exhibition”. Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
• 1997 One man show, “Shadows 1951”. B/W photography. Keith de Lellis Gallery, New York.
• 1996 “Chicago Photography 1935-1965”. Major contributor. James Danziger Gallery, New York.
• 1995 “Institute of Design”. Contributor, photography show. Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, Illinois.
• 1995 “New York Stories”. Major contributor, photography show. James Danziger Gallery, New York.
• 1994 “Hallmark Collection”. Book and Exhibition. The Art Institute of Chicago. I C P Midtown, New York.
• 1992 “Paris, France”. One year residency, color photography for The Image Bank, subsidiary of Eastman Kodak
• 1989 “Life through the Sixties”. Participant, photo exhibit. International Center of Photography, New York.
• 1988 “The Image Bank”. Worldwide Picture agency. Contract photographer.
• 1987 “Christie’s Inc.”, Fine Art Auctioneers. National advertising photography.
• 1986 “Statue of Liberty,100 Years”. Time Magazine, photographic color supplement.
• 1985 “42nd Street at Night”. Popular Photography, June issue. Photographic color portfolio.
• 1984 “New York at Night”. Stewart Tabori and Chang publishers. Full color portfolio of Times Square in the 1950’s.
• 1983 “American Society of Magazine Photographers”, President. Led cultural delegation to China as a guest of the Chinese government.
• 1982 “Manhattan”. Participant, color photographic show. The Museum of the City of New York.
• 1982 “J.P. Morgan Bank”. 1982-1987. National advertising photography.
• 1981 “Breaking Ground, Open Spaces Temporary and Accidental”. Photographs by Marvin E. Newman, text by Brendan Gill. One man show. Municipal Art Society of New York.
• 1973  Arthur Williams Gallery, New York
• 1956 Roy de Carava’s A Photographers Gallery New York
• 1953 Always the Young Stranger, Museum of Modern Art

Media in which you have worked:
Photography
Sculpture

Books published:
Newsweek Books,
“The Dome of the Rock” 1972, “Vienna” 1981, “The Danube” 1979
Bonniers Publishing, “Color of Sweden” 1966
Abrams Books, “Yankee Colors” 2009

Occupations:
Art Photographer
Magazine Photographer
Advertising Photographer
Journalist










© All images in the postscript section above are copyright Marvin E. Newman.
ARTSnFOOD, All rights reserved. Concept & Original Text © Copyright 2011 Jack A. Atkinson under all International intellectual property and copyright laws. Images © individual artists, fabricators, respective owners or assignees.