In the 1920s, utilizing the alternative photographic processes that he pioneered, Man Ray made a handful of short films that helped lay the foundation for avant-garde filmmaking.
Author Archives: Aaron M. Cohen
Best Photobooks of 2021
Our votes for the best photobooks of 2021, plus a roundup of notable best-of lists from a variety of publications.
Just Published: #ICPConcerned
A landmark photography exhibit that collectively documented the insanity of 2020 is now a beautifully printed book.
Book Review: Ruth Orkin – A Photo Spirit
Ruth Orkin: A Photo Spirit reproduces over 200 of Orkin’s photographs in honor of what would have been her 100th birthday. It’s the most definitive collection of her work to date.
Book Review: I See a City by Todd Webb
This collection of Todd Webb’s work is a compelling and elegant visual record of 1940s New York–a city on the verge of enormous change–as well as an opportunity to discover a great 20th Century photographer who’s been largely overlooked.
Photographers as Filmmakers #5½: I Need A Ride To California (Morris Engel, 1968)
On the heels of The Little Fugitive, we take a look at Morris Engel’s long-lost, recently restored 1968 feature film, which chronicles the experiences of a free-spirited young woman immersed in the East Village counterculture scene.
Photographers as Filmmakers #5: The Little Fugitive (Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin, 1953)
At the start of the 1950s, Photo League members Morris Engel and Ruth Orkin made a low-budget independent feature called The Little Fugitive using a small, custom-built portable movie camera. Their unassuming and charming debut as filmmakers went on to have an unexpected and considerable influence on the film world.
In the Galleries: September 2021
This month in Philadelphia: The inaugural 20/20 Photo Festival, “New Sicilian Topographics” at Art on the Avenue Gallery, “Michael Froio: From the Main Line” at Gravy Studio, and “A Quiet Light” at Wiota Street Garden.
Book Review: Fotoclubismo by Sarah Hermanson Meister
A beautifully printed, densely informative catalog that accompanies the current MoMA exhibit (on view through September), Fotoclubismo highlights the visually innovative photography of a largely unknown mid-20th Century amateur photography club in Brazil.
Photographers as Filmmakers #4: In The Street (Helen Levitt, 1948)
In the Street is a sensitively observed slice-of-life portrait of Spanish Harlem shot in 1948 and released in the early 1950s. Acclaimed street photographer Helen Levitt collaborated on the film with her sister-in-law, painter Janice Loeb, and author James Agee, who wrote the text for Now Let Us Praise Famous Men.
