By Alex Novak

The economic lead-in to the upcoming AIPAD Show in New York City is looking a lot more positive than it has been in the previous 18 months, as the art and photography market is poised to make some reasonable strides towards recovery. Reports from other shows earlier this year, including Photo LA and Art Basel Miami, and the recent Armory Show and ADAA Show--as well as from gallery and dealer comments to us--indicate that there has been a substantive uptick in sales and activity from most of last year, when declines in business in 2009 over 2008 were commonly 40-75%.

Dealers have told me that sales went from the doldrums to recovery beginning in December (some in New York City told me November), which dozens of dealers and galleries told me was their best month of 2009--quite a departure from normal years. January, February and March haven't been bad months either, especially considering the weather around the country during these months. The market seems to have bottomed out, even if the business doesn't seem exactly poised to take off dramatically from here.

The real question is how dealers will be able to adjust to somewhat lower income parameters. Of course, there are always exceptions: David Fahey told me that 2009 was actually much better than 2008--one of the few photo dealers to have this experience.

Dealers at Photo LA and the smaller satellite show at Michael Dawson's generally reported decent to excellent business. Several, including Sid Monroe of Monroe Gallery of Photography, Santa Fe, NM, and Louis Klaitman of Berkeley, CA, told me that this year's Photo LA was one of their best shows ever.

The dealers at these shows also had better bottom-line results with booth costs dropping for dealers in both shows, with smaller and less expensive tables/booths still drawing good sales. While we ourselves sold just a bit under 2009's totals, we still made considerably better profit due to lower show costs. Crowds were thick and enthusiastic, especially considering the last-minute change in venue from a used car dealership in a questionable LA neighborhood back to the dependable and well-liked Santa Monica Civic Center.

In fact, Photo LA almost became a casualty of the severe miscalculation of its owner and manager Stephen Cohen over the acceptance of an original poor venue choice, which was rejected by most long-time exhibitors. This year's show recovered only with the help and cooperation of a key group of dealers who were intent on coming together and saving this important West Coast institution, once the choice of venue was resolved positively.

Photo LA's future viability though depends largely on better planning and communications with the dealers who make this show work--something that has never been Cohen's strength. There have already been reports that competitors may take advantage of the situation in the future, but that largely depends on how quickly the Photo LA group can regroup and develop better client outreach to its photography dealer exhibitors, as well as pin down an acceptable venue. My suggestion to the management is to stop focusing on shows elsewhere, such as Beijing, NY, etc., and first get your primary show back to the level it was just a year or two ago. Taking your eye off the ball is deadly in this environment.

Despite the show management troubles in LA, as I've noted, the market seems to be on a rebound. Art dealers and show managers at the Armory Show and ADAA Show report big, enthusiastic crowds and big buyers back out on the hunt in recent weeks.

Our own business is projected to be up about 50% through next month over the year before, and we've heard similar stories from photography dealers that we've talked to recently.

There is talk again about the so-called "safety" of putting your assets into art, especially with the currency ups and downs lately. While I've always discounted such loose advice, it does seem to reflect an overall mood that buying art and photography again is fun and poised for growth. Spring is in the air and AIPAD will mark the start of Spring--and perhaps a more than modest rebound in photography sales.

 

One of the most important international photography events, the AIPAD Photography Show New York, will be presented by the Association of International Photography Art Dealers (AIPAD) from March 18-21, 2010, although a gala preview on March 17th will give an earlier sneek peek.

More than 75 of the world's leading fine art photography galleries will present a wide range of museum-quality work including contemporary, modern and 19th-century photographs, as well as photo-based art, video and new media, at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th St. in New York City.

The 30th edition of the AIPAD Photography Show New York will kick off early with a Gala Preview on March 17 to benefit the John Szarkowski Fund, an endowment for photography acquisitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The AIPAD Photography Show New York is the longest running and foremost exhibition of fine art photography.

A representative from the Office of the Mayor of New York City will help kick off the Gala Benefit Preview, and Mayor Michael Bloomberg has declared March 14-21 “Photo Week” to coincide with The AIPAD Photography Show New York.

"We are pleased and proud to mark the 30th anniversary of the AIPAD Photography Show in 2010," noted Stephen Bulger, president, AIPAD, and president, Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto. "AIPAD dealers have stood the test of time, which underscores their extraordinary knowledge, experience and connoisseurship. In addition, it is a great pleasure to work with our corporate partner AXA Art, with its global presence and art world expertise."

To commemorate the 30th anniversary of AIPAD, the 2010 Show will feature Celebration, an exhibition-within-an-exhibition, and a number of special events including panel discussions with leading curators, dealers, artists and critics.

More information is available at: http://www.aipad.com/photoshow .

A wide range of the world's leading fine art photography galleries will exhibit at the show, including a number of international galleries from Paris, London, Berlin, Buenos Aires, the Czech Republic and Japan.

Several special events are planned for Saturday, March 20th and Sunday, March 21st. Six panel discussions bringing together leading curators, dealers, artists and journalists are planned during the AIPAD Photography Show New York in the Veteran's Room at the Park Avenue Armory. The AIPAD programs are free with that day's admission to the AIPAD Photography Show New York. Seating is limited and available on a first-come, first-served basis.

Saturday, March 20, 2010

10 am
THE ART OF CARING FOR PHOTOGRAPHS
Top experts explore the most important issues involved in caring for photographs. Topics will include: hanging, framing, storage, conservation, ethics and more.
Christiane Fischer, President and C.E.O., AXA Art Insurance Corporation, North America, Moderator
Anne Gibbs, Owner, White Mule Picture Frames, New York
Nora W. Kennedy, Sherman Fairchild Conservator of Photographs, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Peter Mustardo, Photograph Conservator, President, The Better Image, New York/Milford, NJ
Stephen Bulger, President, AIPAD; Stephen Bulger Gallery, Toronto

12 noon
NEW TOPOGRAPHICS: Landscape Photography Then and Now
The 1975 exhibition, New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape, signaled the emergence of a new approach to landscape photography emulated by generations of photographers. A new version of this seminal exhibition is currently touring eight international venues. This discussion will focus on the impact of both exhibitions and the role of landscape photography today.
Rick Wester, Rick Wester Fine Art, New York, Moderator
Joe Deal, Artist
Frank Gohlke, Artist
Alison Nordström, Curator of Photographs, George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, Rochester, NY
Britt Salvesen, Department Head and Curator, Photography Department, Prints and Drawings Department, The Los Angeles County Museum of Art

2 pm
STREET SEEN: The Psychological Gesture in American Photography, 1940-1959
This new exhibition, on view at the Milwaukee Art Museum from January 30 through April 25, 2010, examines a unique and pivotal moment in American photographic history. The first major examination of street photography of the 1940s and '50s in nearly 20 years includes work by Lisette Model, Robert Frank, Louis Faurer, Ted Croner, Saul Leiter, and William Klein – and uncovers a crucial time in American art, when global media was in its adolescence and photography was just beginning to achieve recognition in the contemporary art world. A highlight will be the New York debut of Time Capsule, a recently discovered short film by Louis Faurer.
Lisa Hostetler, Curator of Photographs, Milwaukee Art Museum, Moderator
Saul Leiter, Artist
William Meyers, Critic, Wall Street Journal
Ann Thomas, Curator, Photographs, National Gallery of Canada
Tom Gitterman, Gitterman Gallery, New York

4 pm
THE COLLECTOR'S VIEWPOINT: MARTIN MARGULIES
The world-renowned collector of contemporary art discusses 30 years of collecting.
William Hunt, Hasted Hunt Kraeutler, New York, Interviewer
Martin Margulies, Collector, Miami

6 pm
CONTEMPORARY PHOTOGRAPHY NOW
An insider's look at contemporary photography today with leading AIPAD experts examines trends from digital photography to new media.
Susan Bright, Independent Curator and Writer, New York, Moderator
Kim Bourus, Higher Pictures, New York
Martin McNamara, Gallery 339 Fine Art Photography, Philadelphia
Andrea Meislin, Andrea Meislin Gallery, New York
Robert Morat, Robert Morat Galerie, Hamburg, Germany
Bryce Wolkowitz, Bryce Wolkowitz Gallery, New York

Sunday, March 21, 2010

12 noon
A CONVERSATION WITH MEMBERS OF THE PHOTO LEAGUE
In the critical years leading up to World War II, the Photo League flourished as a progressive center for American photography in New York City. In 1947, the League was listed as a "subversive" organization, leading to its demise in 1951. The panel presents a rare opportunity to hear first-hand accounts from the artists themselves during this turbulent period.
Moderators:
Catherine Evans, Chief Curator, Columbus Museum of Art, Ohio
Mason Klein, Curator of Fine Arts, The Jewish Museum, New York
Artists/Speakers: Vivian Cherry, Sonia Meyer, Arthur Leipzig, Jerome Liebling, Rebecca Lepkoff, Marvin E. Newman, Erika Stone, and Ida Wyman

Gala Benefit Preview
The AIPAD Photography Show New York will present a Gala Benefit Preview on Wednesday, March 17, from 5-9 pm. The evening will benefit the John Szarkowski Fund, an endowment for photography acquisitions at the Museum of Modern Art in New York City. The fund was established to honor John Szarkowski, one of the most influential curators in photography and a photographer in his own right.

Ticket information is as follows:
Patron 5-9 pm ($750, 1 ticket)
Sponsor 6:30-9 pm ($250, 1 ticket)
Friend 7:30-9 pm ($100, 1 ticket)

For more information or to purchase tickets, please contact the Museum of Modern Art at 1-212-708-9680 or at specialevents@moma.org . Or visit http://www.moma.org/aipad2010 .

The AIPAD Photography Show's regular hours will run from Thursday, March 18, though Sunday, March 21 at the Park Avenue Armory at 67th Street in New York City. Show hours have been extended until 8 p.m. Thursday though Saturday and are as follows:

Thursday, March 18, 11 am to 8 pm
Friday, March 19, 11 am to 8 pm
Saturday, March 20, 11 am to 8 pm
Sunday, March 21, 11 am to 6 pm

The admission is $25 daily. A catalogue is available for $10 at the Show. The $40 run-of-show ticket includes a show catalogue. Student admission is $10 with a valid student ID. No advance purchase is required. Tickets will be available at the door. For more information, the public can call AIPAD at 1-202-367-1158 or visit http://www.aipad.com .

 

Several I Photo Central member galleries will be showing at the AIPAD New York Photography Show at the Park Avenue Armory next week, March 17-21.

Contemporary Works/Vintage Works (booth #101) has several featured walls. Among the 19th-century featured material is: "Felix Teynard: Personal Prints" and "19th-century Architectural Masterworks". The former will include prints that were made outside of the normal H. de Fonteny edition, probably for Teynard himself or for an assistant, and hence very rare. The latter will include a stunning 1850s albumen print by Amboise Pierre Richebourg of the Bedroom Chamber in the Palace of the Russian Czar Alexander I, plus four albumenized 1854 salt prints by Gustave Le Gray and photographed by his student, Alphonse De Launay. Large, early salt prints by Auguste Salzmann, Bisson Frères and Charles Marville will also be a part of the display.

There will be several themed walls on 20th-century work. "Experimental Photography: 1930s-1940s" will feature important and rare work from Belgium surrealist Raoul Ubac, including a large "Le Combat des Penthesilees", and a rare positive photogram by Moholy-Nagy. Also on this wall is a spectacular Aaron Siskind 1948 abstraction from his first gallery show with the Egan label on the verso, and several other top pieces from European and Japanese photographers.

The back wall of the Contemporary Works/Vintage Works booth will be devoted to the exhibit, "Facing the Camera: 20th-century Portraits", including important vintage portrait studies by Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, Robert Doisneau, Ralph Meatyard, Willy Kessels, Édouard Boubat, Arthur Tress, Ilse Bing, Josef Sudek, Lee Friedlander and others. In the center of the exhibit will be an early contact print made by Walker Evans himself of "Penny Picture Display, Savannah, GA", which was displayed in his first gallery show in 1966-67. A self-portrait by Robert Mapplethorpe will round out the display of portraits.

Other 20th-century displays include sections on Leonard Misonne ("Pictorialism into Modernism") and Jacques-Henri Lartigue ("A Daughter's Dance"). Also, a section entitled, "Flowers and Other Still Lifes", will feature two rare Edward Steichen flower studies, an elegant Robert Mapplethorpe "Parrot Tulips", and vintage prints by André Kertész, Josef Sudek and Laure Albin-Guillot.

Finally, Contemporary Works/Vintage Works will feature the contemporary work of Lisa Holden (from the "Lilith" series) and Arthur Tress. Also on hand will be a large selection of prints by Mitch Dobrowner, including some from his latest "Storm" series, which can be seen on request. Dobrowner's pricing will go up April 1st, so this may be your last opportunity to see the prints in person and buy them at current prices.

Charles Schwartz, Ltd. will be bringing some very rare and important photographs to its booth (#316). Among the highlights will be an incredible, large print of Robert Howlett's powerful portrait of Isambard Kingdom Brunel posed in front of the launching chains of the Great Eastern (1857). This photograph is considered one of the most important portraits in the history of photography.

Schwartz will also have a very strong collection of 19th-century cased images on hand, including many unique Japanese ambrotypes and a highly unusual half-plate ambrotype from Peru depicting an outdoor scene of a llama herd used for transport.

Notable 20th-century photographs include a 1950s Project print made by Brett Weston of an Edward Weston portrait of Karl Struss with his movie camera (1922). Among the group of 25 W. Eugene Smith photographs that Schwartz will have at the show is a very strong vintage print of the Welsh miners.

The Andrew Smith Gallery booth (#206) this year will have two primary focuses: "The Landscape Tradition from 1860-1932" and "Exquisite Examples of Native American Photography from 1860-1934".

The Landscape Tradition from 1860-1932 will feature, among other important works, an 1867c albumen print by Carleton Watkins, "Rooster Rock, Columbia River, OR", and an 1867 albumen print by Timothy O’Sullivan, "Alkali Lake, Carson Desert, NV (Desert Lake, Ragtown Valley, Carson Desert)".

In the "Exquisite Examples of Native American Photography from 1860-1934" the gallery will show an 1868 albumen print by Alexander Gardner of "Fox Tail, Unid., Yellow Bull, Yellow Top, Bull That Goes Hunting"; an 1858 salt print by Julian Vannerson, "Wa-mdi'U-pi' Du-ta. Scarlet Eagle Tail, A Chief of the Sisiton Sioux"; "Hopi Man", a 1923 silver print by Dorothea Lange; "Navaho Portrait (Ethel Kellywood)", a 1934 silver print by Laura Gilpin; "Po-Go-Nay-Ke-Shick (Hole In The Day). The Celebrated Chippewa Chief", an 1862 salt print by Joel Emmons Whitney; and an 1891 albumen print by Charles Milton Bell of a "Full Delegation Of Sioux Indians".

You can also preview some of these photographs from these dealers here at: http://www.iphotocentral.com/dealer/dealer.php , or search the I Photo Central inventory here: http://www.iphotocentral.com/search/search.php .

 

By Matt Damsker

HIPPOLYTE BAYARD: "PHOTOGRAPHY AND THE SPIRIT"--
A COLLECTION OF PHOTOGRAPHS FROM 1839 TO 1849.
With an essay by Eugenia Parry. Catalogue Salt and Paper XI, Daniel Blau Photography, Odeonsplatz 12, 80539, Munich, Germany. 44 pages; 16 color plates; ISBN 978-3-00-030234-3; Catalogue price: 25 euros. Information: phone: + 49 (0)89-29 73 42 and fax: + 49 (0)89-24 20 48 60; email: contact@danielblau.de . Website: http://www.danielblauphotography.com/photo/catalogues/bayard.html .

This exhibition catalogue from Galerie Daniel Blau presents some of Hippolyte Bayard's most evocative seminal images, with a luminous essay by Eugenia Parry that provides important context and insight into the life and work of this pioneer of the medium. In the immediate wake of Daguerre and Niépce, it was Bayard (1801- 1887) in France and William Henry Fox Talbot in England who advanced photography with their direct positive prints on paper, moving quickly from experimentation to the codification of their techniques. Bayard's early images are powerful compilations, in their way, of living light, atmosphere, the coexistence of the past and present, all seamlessly rendered through a scrupulous attention to the drama of architectural detail and landscape.

In her essay Parry connects Bayard with the artistic dominance of Romanticism and the literary formulations of Honoré de Balzac, who believed that photography could capture a spiritual, if not a supernatural aura. She notes that Bayard's work evolved from the purely descriptive yet ghostly beauty of his 1839 "Héra Barberini," a rare direct positive on paper which depicts the classical statue's head in profile, a misty vision that gives godlike form to the void. From there, Bayard's focus on the natural world resulted in some of the great early salt-print views of Paris and rich architectural studies (including the wonderful "Ruined House") from his window and elsewhere in Batignolles.

The centerpieces of Blau's offering are Bayard's nuanced frontal views of the facades of the Louvre and especially of the St. Étienne portal of Notre Dame Cathedral under restoration. These seven 1849 treatments of Notre Dame are of a man in black positioned at the foot of the entrance way, amidst construction materials, to provide a perfect sense of scale. The group is composed of albumen-coated salt prints from glass negatives. Their clarity in capturing the raking sunlight, the sculptural beauty and texture of the friezes and weathered stones is astonishing.

Each version of the identical images affords a different spiritual dimension through the play and modulation of the light, and Parry is right to note that Bayard's St. Étienne series "seems to anticipate Monet's serial renditions of Rouen Cathedral in the 1890s", thus affirming an important link from photography's early days to the earliest stirrings of Modernism.

She also hits the perfect interpretive note when she concludes that "Bayard's work belongs to the dawn of new inventions where there are formulas, but the results aren't formulaic. Everything is an open question."

Without question, though, Blau's presentation of these rarities is as well-focused as was Bayard's lens.


Matt Damsker is an author and critic, who has written about photography and the arts for the Los Angeles Times, Hartford Courant, Philadelphia Bulletin, Rolling Stone magazine and other publications. His book, "Rock Voices", was published in 1981 by St. Martin's Press. His essay in the book, "Marcus Doyle: Night Vision" was published in the fall of 2005.

(Book publishers, authors and photography galleries/dealers may send review copies to us at: I Photo Central, 258 Inverness Circle, Chalfont, PA 18914. We do not guarantee that we will review all books or catalogues that we receive.)

 

Early last month Magnum Photos, Inc., MSD Capital, L.P., and the Harry Ransom Center at the University of Texas at Austin jointly announced a landmark partnership under which the Magnum Archive Collection, which contains nearly 200,000 original press prints of images taken by world-renowned Magnum photographers, will be preserved, catalogued, and made accessible by the Ransom Center. The collection will reside at the Ransom Center pursuant to an agreement with its new owner, an affiliate of MSD Capital, which recently acquired the prints from Magnum Photos.

The vintage prints in the Collection have been amassed since the 1930s and include images of major world events, celebrities, family life, poverty, religion and social affairs by Magnum photographers including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Robert Capa, Elliott Erwitt, Leonard Freed, Bruce Davidson, Rene Burri, Eve Arnold, Dennis Stock and more than 80 others.

Last year, after discussions between Magnum and various museums and institutions, the archive was sold to MSD Capital, a private investment firm formed in 1998 originally for the family of Michael S. Dell, who is chairman and CEO of Dell, Inc. While a price for the collection has not been announced by the parties involved, the New York Times reported that the Ransom Center had insured the collection for more than $100 million.

The new owners have reached an agreement with the Harry Ransom Center to place it at the Center for study and exhibition for at least the next five years.

Michael Dell commented, "I am so pleased to be able to entrust this significant body of work to the Harry Ransom Center at The University of Texas for research, study and exhibition. The Ransom Center has a well-known record of excellence and is ideally suited to manage the archiving and study of such a substantial and important collection. Having this incredible collection in Austin is especially exciting to me."

"This is a singularly valuable collection in the history of photography," said Thomas F. Staley, Director of the Ransom Center. "It brings together some of the finest photojournalists of the profession and spans more than a half century of contributions to the medium. We are delighted to make these remarkable materials accessible to researchers and students."

 

Noted photographer Dennis Stock, 81, passed away on Monday evening, January 11, 2010. Born in 1928 and a photographer with Magnum Photos for nearly 50 years, he was one of the first Americans to join that agency.

Dennis was particularly well known for his intimate and iconic photographs of James Dean for Life magazine, which were taken shortly before the young actor's untimely death in 1955. He will also be remembered for his unique and often atmospheric photographs of the New Orleans jazz scene of the late 1950's, which were published in his book, Jazz Street.

In the 1960's, he documented the world of the counterculture, ultimately publishing the monograph, "California Trip". Later in life, he began to work more extensively in color, attracted especially to the natural world.

Dennis was the author of 27 books, and his work is in museum collections around the world, including the International Center of Photography, the Chicago Institute of Art, and the Musée d'Arte Moderne de la ville de Paris.

Here is how Dennis described his life as a photographer: "I have been privileged to view much of life through my cameras, making the journey an enlightened experience."

 

By Karen Bartholomew

Anita Ventura Mozley, founding curator of photography at the Stanford University Museum of Art and a leading expert on Eadweard Muybridge, died Saturday, January 23, 2010, of natural causes at her home in Menlo Park, CA. She was 81.

Soon after joining the museum as registrar, she recognized the significance of its comprehensive collection of Muybridge’s stop-motion photographs of the horse in motion, commissioned a century before by Governor Leland Stanford. She was named curator of photography in 1971, and the following year organized her most significant exhibition, “Eadweard Muybridge: The Stanford Years, 1872-1882.” It traveled nationally and internationally.

Reviewing the show during its New York stop in 1973, New York Times art critic Hilton Kramer recognized the quality of her accompanying exhibition catalogue, noting that she had “produced for the occasion an excellent scholarly catalogue that will be indispensable not only to Muybridge specialists but to everyone interested in the history of photography.”

Mozley later wrote the introductory text to Muybridge’s Complete Human and Animal Locomotion (Dover, 1979).

Active in the New York art scene of the 1950s as a writer, critic and painter, Mozley designed posters for the Leo Castelli Gallery, and came to know Jasper Johns. Years later, she donated to what is now known as Stanford’s Cantor Arts Center two U.L.A.E. lithographs Johns had inscribed to her.

She served as managing editor and West Coast correspondent for Arts Magazine from 1955 to 1964. With sculptor Sidney Geist, she produced an alternative arts newsletter, Scrap, from 1960 to 1962. Scrap grew out of their dissatisfaction with conventional art criticism and expressed, as Geist later wrote, “both a combativeness and an irreverence toward criticism itself.”

Moving to San Francisco in 1962, Mozley worked at the Maritime Museum before joining the Stanford Museum in 1970. Virtually overnight, she initiated the expansion of the museum’s collections to encompass the development of photography from its earliest days to the present. In addition to Muybridge, her research included Julia Margaret Cameron, Thomas Annan, Imogen Cunningham, Ansel Adams, Peter Stackpole, and Lorie Novak.

Mozley’s other memorable exhibitions included “Ansel Adams: The Portfolios,” 1972; “The Grand Tour: Mid-19th Century Photographs from the Leonard-Peil Collection,” 1979; “Paintings by Joseph Raphael,” 1980; “Ansel Adams: Ski Experience,” 1983; and “Images of Hope and Despair: Robert Frank’s Photographs,” 1985. For her 1974 exhibition “Mrs. Cameron’s Photographs from the Life,” Mozley staged at the museum Virginia Woolf’s play “Freshwater: A Comedy” casting herself as the main character, Julia Margaret Cameron, who was Woolf’s great-aunt.

Of her work at Stanford, Jed Pearl, art critic of The New Republic, said she would be remembered for her “pioneering scholarly work” on Muybridge, which “like all of Anita’s undertakings, were fueled by an artist’s sensibility.” Noting that Mozley got her start in “mid-century bohemian New York” and was an editor of the “legendary artists’ magazine” Scrap, he said that she “never lost her gloriously old-fashioned faith in the imperatives of the imagination.”

“For Anita, seriousness and playfulness were two sides of a single equation, and she explored that magnificent equation in her studies of Muybridge and everything else she ever did,” Perl said.

Anita Ventura was born Aug. 29, 1928, in Washington, D.C., to Mario and Juanita Ventura, and grew up in Rochester, N.Y. In 1950, she earned a B.A. in art, with honors, from Northwestern University; she also was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. In 1950-52, she studied with Morris Kantor at the Art Students League in New York City.

The family prefers contributions to the Peninsula Open Space Trust (POST), 222 High St., Palo Alto, CA 94301, or the Smile Train, 41 Madison Ave., 28th Floor, New York, NY 10010.

 

Noted portrait photographer Fabian Bachrach died of pneumonia on Friday February 26, 2010 in Newton, MA. He was 92 and lived in West Newton. Bachrach is probably best known for his portrait of the then Senator John F. Kennedy, an image that became the official presidential photo after Kennedy's election.

Born in Newton on April 9, 1917, Bachrach belonged to a dynasty of commercial portrait photographers that stretches back four generations and over 140 years. It is thought to be the oldest continuously operating photo studio in the world.

Bachrach photographed the famous, among them President Richard M. Nixon, Jawaharlal Nehru, Indira Gandhi, Joe DiMaggio, Muhammad Ali, Jacques Cousteau, Robert Frost, Buckminster Fuller and even fellow photographer Richard Avedon.