Alfred Stieglitz led the photography fine art movement in the United States and became renowned internationally for his advocacy, as well as his photographs.He was also an art dealer, publisher and promoter of other photographers and painters, including John Marin, Arthur Dove, Paul Strand and Georgia O'Keeffe. Edward Steichen was a close colleague and friend (until they had a falling out.)
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JFK: On the Role of the Artist
For inspiration, there's nothing quite like hearing John F. Kennedy speak. If you're an artist, or simply appreciate art, listen to this October 1963 SPEECH that JFK delivered at Amherst College, Massachusetts, in honor of the poet Robert Frost, who had died in January of that year. While honoring one man in the speech, Kennedy honors at once all artists, all truth, and the nation.
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Enhanced Interrogation
The Bush era calls for continuing reflection, not least upon the Enhanced Interrogation Techniques implemented by the CIA to break down detainees during the Afghanistan and Iraq wars. The complex arguments for and against the program are clarified in this stirring 2009 testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. The testimony of academics and government servants encountered here will provide new insights to anything seen in the news.
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Art of the Middle East
We are so inured to the socio-political matters of the Middle East, we seldom stop to wonder about its artists and creators. This must-see blog is refreshingly devoted to brilliant artists, curators and exhibitions from Abu Dhabi and Amman to Tehran and Zurich.
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Ghetto Celebrity (Contours Podcast)
If you love to hear new important voices, or you've ever endured the creative struggle, listen to this podcast. It will touch bone.
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Songs of War
Many Americans realize that during the Viet Nam War, music was blasted from speakers in an attempt to subdue the enemy on the field. But how many of us know that music was co-opted by the CIA's "Enhanced Interrogation" program installed during the Bush administration?
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Ai Wei Wei
The best art will often take us not further from, but instead, closer to, reality. Chinese artist and activist Ai Wei Wei is a prime example. His artistic statements demonstrate a rare boldness, often pointing to the repressive underside of his society, putting him dangerously at odds with the Chinese communist state. A key element of his remarkable career has been powerful use of the internet.
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Photographer Vivian Maier
Who is Vivian Maier? It just might be, that she herself didn't really know. Maier was completely unknown until a young Chicago real estate agent, John Maloof, discovered her work in an attic space after her death at age 83. Many are saying that the treasure trove of street photography she left behind ranks her as one of the master image makers of our age.
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The Lost Dream (Podcast)
The year's end brings reflection on the power of great creative work. This December, I Interviewed Egyptian-American filmmaker Jehan Harney about her film "Dream of America," which documents Iraqi men who fled to America after risking their lives in defiance of Saddam Hussein. Listen to how the men's story literally made Washington Post headlines earlier in 2010. The resulting publicity garnered welcome support for the film's main subject, a father of four, whose fidelity to the U.S. led him into serious and continuing personal struggles.
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Joel Meyerowitz
For his project "Aftermath: The World Trade Center Archive," photographer Joel Meyerowitz created an historically relevant and poignant record of ground zero. To photograph at the site was prohibited, so his project was resisted from he beginning. Had Meyerowitz not persisted in his vision, the 8000 image archive, traveling and touching others across the world, would not exist.
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JR
JR is a young innovative French photographer who stays below radar. He offers few words about his work, but his enormous black and white portraits loom large in highly populated public communities. He directs his subjects to make exaggerated facial expressions that somehow, amidst the amusement, raise questions about identity, poverty, sexism, boredom or violence.
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Daniel Pearl World Music Days
Loss and creative power seem to be inextricably connected. This month of October marks the 9th year of concerts performed globally in memory of Daniel Pearl, a journalist (and musician) who was brutally murdered by terrorists in Karachi, Pakistan, in early 2002.
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Women of the World
A dazzling collection of art by women from across the globe was originally intended to be auctioned off in 2003. New Orleans collector Richard C. Colton, Jr. was so moved by the power of the assemblage, however, that he bought it whole in order to keep it that way, and to share it with the world.
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Ambivalence Over Afghanistan
Barack Obama is edging closer to a decision on whether to reinforce the 68,000 U.S. troops who will be fighting in Afghanistan by year's end. Since routing out Al Qaeda and their Taliban hosts in Afghanistan after 9-11, the Taliban has made a steady comeback, fueled by failures of the Bush administration, profits from the opium trade,
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Hole in the Wall Camps
September brought a sad, sweet farewell to Paul Newman, who died of cancer at the age of 83. Amidst the media gloom and campaign rancor of the season, a glance at his life makes for refreshing fare. What film lover could forget Newman's understated blue-eyed "Cool Hand Luke," his tortured soul as Brick in "Cat on a Hot Tin Roof," his romantic charm as Butch Cassidy. Over the years, his characters helped us to articulate the spirit of our times. He became like a friend, journeying alongside us through the decades. His colleagues have long commented on his lack of outsized ego, his generosity on stage, and his abiding Ohio-born, down-to-earth perspective.
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