CARL VAN VECHTEN: PORTRAITS OF WRITERS

Carl Van Vechten, 1880-1964, was an author, photographer, music and dance critic, who championed modernism in the arts, and was one of the first to bring African-American artists and writers to mainstream attention. He was a close friend of Gertrude Stein and Alice Toklas, and he and his wife, the Yiddish theater actress Fania Marinoff, provided moral and financial support to Toklas in the late years of her life. He was a prolific photographer both as a professional, taking formal portraits of leading figures in the arts on assignment for magazines, and as an amateur, making informal pictures of his friends. Our exhibition includes 14 images of writers, ranging from the early 1930s into the 1950s. The photos bear Van Vechten's blind-stamp and are annotated on the back with the name of the subject, the date of the photo and with numerical cataloguing numbers.

THE WOODCUT SHOW

Our gallery exhibition for May and June will feature the woodcut, and its close relatives, the wood-engraving and the linoleum cut..

MARIO RIVOLI - TATTOO SERIES

This group of six mixed media drawings was suggested by the images in a group of found photographs from the 1960s of tattooed male and female nudes. A copy of the photograph will accompany each drawing in order to illustrate the transformations the artist's skills have brought to each image.

BOSTON PRINT FAIR HIGHLIGHTS

Here are some highlights from among the many prints, drawings and photographs we will have at the Boston Print Fair, May 2-4, 2008 at the Boston Public Library. Details of this show are under the Show Schedule tab above.