December 03, 2020

GME Licenses Hugh Bell’s Photographs of Billie Holiday for James Erskine Documentary

December 03, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

Available in the U.S. as of December 4th, BILLIE (2020) is a documentary about the singer who changed the face of American music, and the journalist who died trying to tell her story. Directed by award-winning filmmaker James Erskine, the documentary is based on 200 hours of interviews conducted from 1970 to 1978 by journalist Linda Lipnack Kuehl. Kuehl had intended to write a definitive biography of Holiday, and her research comprised interviews—taking up 125 audio cassette tapes—with Count Basie, Tony Bennett, Charles Mingus, and Sylvia Syms, among many other colleagues in the jazz world. She also spoke to Holiday’s cousin and childhood friends, as well as to her attorneys and the FBI agents who kept her under surveillance, due to both her drug use and her outspoken antiracism.

October 27, 2020

Tassilo Adam in the Dutch East Indies in the 1920s for 2020 World Day for Audiovisual Heritage

October 27, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

Gartenberg Media Enterprises presents a rare clip that Tassilo Adam filmed with the cooperation of the Royal authorities, who staged processions, and gatherings, and rituals for his camera. A number of these included representation of animals through dance. As the official ethnographer for the Dutch government of the East Indies, as well as a professional photographer, his moving image footage shows a considerably more sophisticated vision of the Dutch East Indies in the 1920s than other films of the period. Although transferred digitally, this material retains the lustrous sheen of the nitrate on which it was originally filmed.

September 23, 2020

Choreographer Trisha Brown's Archive Goes to the New York Public Library

September 23, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

After an extensive search for the right home, the Trisha Brown Dance Company is placing its founder’s archive — including the Building Tapes and corresponding notebooks, known as the Building Notebooks — at the Jerome Robbins Dance Division of the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

August 24, 2020

Nelson Rockefeller as Photographed by Raimondo Borea

August 24, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

Gartenberg Media presents this striking photograph by Raimondo Borea of Republican party icon Nelson Rockefeller recalling a time in U.S. political history of wider debate and less partisan rancor.

August 16, 2020

Common to Perform at Democratic National Convention

August 16, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

Common, as depicted in this photo by Hugh Bell, is among the list of performers that will appear this week at the Democratic National Convention.

GME is also happy to share some of it’s images of historical Democratic party icons as photographed by Raimondo Borea.

GME is also pleased to present a rare audio recording during John F. Kennedy’s presidential campaign, which comes from GME’s archive of original campaign commercials for television and radio.

July 08, 2020

"A Day in the Night of Hugh Downs”: Photo Essay by Raimondo Borea

July 08, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

Gartenberg Media Enterprises (GME) is honored to memorialize the passing last week of entertainment giant Hugh Downs by presenting a rare visual essay, “A Day in the Night of Hugh Downs,” photographed by Raimondo Borea. Hugh Downs was a regular television presence from the 1940’s through the 1990’s. He was an announcer for Tonight Starring Jack Paar from 1957 to 1962, co-host of the NBC News program Today from 1962 to 1971, host of the Concentration game show from 1958 to 1969, and anchor of the ABC News magazine 20/20 from 1978 to 1999.

June 18, 2020

RECENT LANDMARK SUPREME COURT RULING & HUGH BELL’S LGBT PHOTOGRAPHS OF AFRICAN AMERICANS

June 18, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

The recent landmark Supreme Court decision guaranteeing employment protection on a Federal level for the LGBTQ community underscores the contemporary relevance of a selection of photographs of African American gay and lesbians (pictured above and below), which were taken decades ago by photographer Hugh Bell (1927-2012).

June 16, 2020

Iconic Sarah Vaughan Photo by Hugh Bell to be Included in Forthcoming Exhibition at the University of Minnesota Katherine E. Nash Gallery

June 16, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

Over the past several years, Gartenberg Media Enterprises (GME) has worked diligently to further the legacy of talented African-American artist Hugh Bell, whose photography career began in the early 1950s. We are pleased to announce that the Katherine E. Nash Gallery at the Department of Art, University of Minnesota, will feature Hugh Bell’s work in their forthcoming exhibition projected for September of 2021, entitled “ A Picture Gallery of the Soul,” which will celebrate the work of African American photographers. The gallery, situated on the campus of the University of Minnesota in Minneapolis, also promotes art as a means to address the issues of social justice, especially relevant because of the murder of George Floyd in that city.

February 27, 2020

Warren Sonbert’s CARRIAGE TRADE in Anthology Film Archives Essential Cinema series March 1st

February 27, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

“With CARRIAGE TRADE (1973 version, 61 min, 16mm), Sonbert began to challenge the theories espoused by the great Soviet filmmakers of the 1920s; he particularly disliked the ‘knee-jerk’ reaction produced by Eisensteinian montage. In both lectures and writings about his own style of editing, Sonbert described CARRIAGE TRADE as ‘a jig-saw puzzle of postcards to produce varied displaced effects.’ This approach, according to Sonbert, ultimately affords the viewer multi-faceted readings of the connections between shots through the spectator’s assimilation of ‘the changing relations of the movement of objects, the gestures of figures, familiar worldwide icons, rituals and reactions, rhythm, spacing, and density of images.” –Jon Gartenberg

February 27, 2020

National Museum of African American History and Culture Acquires Hugh Bell Photographs

February 27, 2020/ Jon Gartenberg

As Black History Month draws to a close, Gartenberg Media Enterprises (GME) is pleased to announce that the National Museum of African American History and Culture (NMAAHC) has acquired six lifetime silver gelatin prints from the Hugh Bell archive for their permanent collection. Says GME Fine Arts Curator David Deitch, “In preserving the legacy of an artist, there is nothing more gratifying than the prestige that comes from a museum acquiring his work. We are especially pleased that NMAAHC, the premiere international institution dedicated to the history, culture and artistic achievements of the African American community, recognizes the significance of Hugh Bell ‘s photographs within this context.”