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Press Release Checklist E.J. Bellocq Storyville Portraits December 13, 2001- February 2, 2002 The Julie Saul Gallery is pleased to announce a show of never before exhibited early prints by E.J Bellocq (1873-1949), author of the notorious Storyville Photographs. This series of portraits of women- nude and clothed- have been veiled in mystery since they were first published and exhibited at MOMA in 1970, to the delight and fascination of the public. Janet Malcolm wrote: "Bellocq's mysterious photographs pass the test of good attitude so triumphantly that they seem anachronistic." The prints in that exhibition were made by Lee Friedlander who first discovered and acquired Bellocq's glass plate negatives in New Orleans in 1966. With few exceptions, the posthumous prints made by Friedlander from Bellocq's negatives are the only prints known to exist with the exception of the 37 prints to be included in our show. The collection is owned by Rex Rose, inherited from his father, the late Al Rose. No vintage Storyville prints- made contemporaneously with the negatives of c. 1912 have come to light. The Rose prints are significant in their extreme rarity and predate Friedlander's prints by at least ten years. By the time Friedlander began making prints, the negatives were seriously damaged and degraded. The Rose prints also reflect deterioration but to a lesser degree than the later prints. Among the images to be exhibited are the nude reclining on a wicker chaise- the image which inspired Louis Malle's film "Pretty Baby" and the woman seated with a glass of liquor in her striped hose. Our collection contains several examples of the mysteriously scratched out heads on several of the portraits. No one has been able to determine who or why scratched out the negative, it has been suggested that Bellocq's Jesuit brother was the defacer- or perhaps Bellocq himself- as Friedlander has noted that the emulsion on the negatives is "folded" as if moved while wet. The collection contains several previously unpublished works as well. When Friedlander purchased the negatives, he recalls seeing a group of Storyville prints from the 1950's in the possession of a New Orleans dealer, Larry Borenstein from whom he purchased the negatives. Borenstein was a junk/art dealer who, along with another colorful New Orleans character named Al Rose, had first bought the contents of Bellocq's studio after the photographer's death in 1949. Between the time Borenstein and Rose came into possession of the negatives and the time they sold them to Friedlander they made some prints. These are the recently rediscovered prints which we will exhibit. Al Rose was a significant character in the history of New Orleans, especially Storyville, the legal Red Light District of New Orleans between 1898 and 1917. The University of Alabama Press published Rose's definitive historical account of Storyville in 1974, where several of his Bellocq photographs were reproduced. Rose and Borenstein were characters in the fictionalized dialogue created by John Szarkowski in the 1970 MOMA monograph in which the former MOMA Director of Photography attempted to unravel the web of confusion and ambiguity surrounding Bellocq's biography. Rex Rose has done extensive research, and made significant discoveries in reconstructing the life of Bellocq both through his memories of the stories told to him by his father, numerous interviews with others in New Orleans who knew both Bellocq and Rose and archival research in local libraries and archives, where he has spent countless hours trying to solve the riddles posed by the Bellocq's life and work. His research, which is available through the gallery, is illuminating in many respects but still leaves many questions unanswered- what is the identity of the subjects, why did he photograph them, and how did he achieve both the physical and psychological access to these joyfully portrayed young women? It is precisely this ambiguity and ability to delight that make the photographs as intriguing today as they were when first viewed by the public over thirty years ago. E.J. BELLOCQ STORYVILLE PORTRAITS DECEMBER 13 - FEBRUARY 2, 2001 All prints are gelatin silver printed circa 1960. Each plate in the exhibition was printed from the original glass plate negative between 1900 and 1912. Large prints are sheet size 11 x 14î on heavy weight matte paper. Small prints are sheet size 8 x 10î on ferrotyped silver paper. top For additional information contact the gallery back |
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