E-Photo
Issue #210  12/21/2014
 
Three Must-See-Now Events: Rijks' Modern Times, Thomas Walther Collection at N.Y. MoMA, and Classic Photographs Los Angeles

By Alex Novak

If you are serious (or even if you just like photography), there are three photography events that are either running right now or will be in mid-January that you really should not miss.


Modern Times: Photography in the 20th Century

Rijksmuseum show (John Gutmann photo)
Rijksmuseum show (John Gutmann photo)

The Rijksmuseum show on "Modern Times: Photography in the 20th Century" is an event that has taken over the entire top half of the museum for the duration of this exceptional photography show. It is the Rijksmuseum's first ever photography exhibition to showcase its outstanding collection of 20,000 20th-century works that it has amassed since deciding in 1994 to extend its photographic holdings beyond the 19th century. It is a BIG deal. With international coverage of the show, including a six-page section in the Financial Times, the museum and its photography curators, Mattie Boom and Hans Rooseboom, are finally getting the recognition for the very fine and large (over 200,000 images) photography collection here. The show itself is worth hopping on a plane (or train, if you are in Europe already) to get to Amsterdam before this exhibit ends on January 11th. When this museum moves all its Rembrandts to make room for a photography exhibit, you have to know it is spectacular—and it is. I got to see it this November. There is a wonderful catalogue as well (which we will review in a future newsletter), but if you get the chance, go now to see these 400+ photographs in person. For more information and to order tickets: https://www.rijksmuseum.nl/en/modern-times.


Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection

Another great exhibit that has just opened is "Modern Photographs from the Thomas Walther Collection, 1909–1949" at the Museum of Modern Art, New York. We'll have a complete review of this show in a future newsletter, but don't wait. Go now and enjoy this magical and highly personal collection. You will be stunned by some of the images by photographers that you know and even more by photographers that you do not know. The show runs until April 19th, but as I said, don't wait. For details: http://www.moma.org/visit/calendar/exhibitions/1496.


Classic Photographs Los Angeles 2015

Classic Photographs Los Angeles
Classic Photographs Los Angeles

Classic Photographs Los Angeles is coming up soon (January 16-18), so start making your travel plans now. With 27 high-level international galleries and dealers exhibiting, including my own company, Contemporary Works/Vintage Works, this is the second best opportunity after the AIPAD New York Photography Show to find quality photography, and is not to be missed.

CPLA has announced two curatorial events led by Robert Flynn Johnson, Curator Emeritus Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts, Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, CA, and April M. Watson, Curator of Photography, Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO. Each of these accomplished curators will join attendees in a private walk-through of the show prior to the fair's public hours.

The show is held at Bonhams auction rooms at 7601 W. Sunset Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90046. This location is just six blocks east of Fairfax in West Hollywood. Ample free parking is available in two lots located directly behind Bonhams, as well as metered street parking. Regular show hours are Saturday, January 17: 11 am-7 pm; and Sunday, January 18: 11-5 pm. For more information, go to: http://www.classicphotographsla.com/index.html, or contact Amanda Doenitz at 1-310-205-0326 or e-mail amanda@classicphotographsla.com.

The separate contemporary show, Photo LA, which is not affiliated with Classic Photographs Los Angeles or its programs, is also held during the same week, so come to the LA area and double your pleasure.

Novak has over 47 years experience in the photography-collecting arena. He is a long-time member and formally board member of the Daguerreian Society, and, when it was still functioning, he was a member of the American Photographic Historical Society (APHS). He organized the 2016 19th-century Photography Show and Conference for the Daguerreian Society. He is also a long-time member of the Association of International Photography Art Dealers, or AIPAD. Novak has been a member of the board of the nonprofit Photo Review, which publishes both the Photo Review and the Photograph Collector, and is currently on the Photo Review's advisory board. He was a founding member of the Getty Museum Photography Council. He is author of French 19th-Century Master Photographers: Life into Art.

Novak has had photography articles and columns published in several newspapers, the American Photographic Historical Society newsletter, the Photograph Collector and the Daguerreian Society newsletter. He writes and publishes the E-Photo Newsletter, the largest circulation newsletter in the field. Novak is also president and owner of Contemporary Works/Vintage Works, a private photography dealer, which sells by appointment and has sold at exhibit shows, such as AIPAD New York and Miami, Art Chicago, Classic Photography LA, Photo LA, Paris Photo, The 19th-century Photography Show, Art Miami, etc.