The Kalisher's

[Rrrgcy]

I don’t believe I’ve seen anything here on these artists. I’d run across this photographer who very recently passed, Simpson Kalisher, and near me. One photo in MOMA‘s The Family of Man. Post-war urban. Had a good history with the street photographers of the day. I especially enjoy the 1959 image of the man pushing his stalled car in the wet rain. Wicked what a photo.

Simpson Kalisher, Photographer Who Captured Urban Grit, Dies at 96 (Published 2023)

He emerged from a largely commercial background to join the towering figures who defined an art form — street photography — in the 1950s and ’60s.

www.nytimes.com

His son Jesse Kalisher sadly pre-deceased him in 2017 and had created a seemingly incredible commercial business (outside the gallery he had). Wiki says his were the first photographs of Barack Obama acquired by the Smithsonian.

He creatively applied his marketing and photography interests into a winner. The company is ongoing w his staff of some 100 who work in the spirit of his DNA.

Kalisher | Original & Custom Fine Art

We’re a team of more than 100 artists, eccentrics, and engineers who create, commission, and manufacture comprehensive art collections for properties worldwide.

kalisher.com

and one of his interviews that showcase what he did.

https://www.adorama.com/alc/episode/hospitality-art-with-jesse-kalisher-the-redefine-show-with-tamara-lackey/

 

[Alex Benjamin]

Also saw the Simpson Kalisher obituary yesterday. A very interesting photographer.

A few picks here:

Hugh Edwards | Simpson Kalisher

During Hugh Edward's time at the Art Institute of Chicago he acquired 3000+ works and organized 75 shows, shaping the public’s understanding of photography in Chicago and across the country.

archive.artic.edu

 

[Merg Ross]

I don’t believe I’ve seen anything here on these artists. I’d run across this photographer who very recently passed, Simpson Kalisher, and near me. One photo in MOMA‘s The Family of Man. Post-war urban. Had a good history with the street photographers of the day. I especially enjoy the 1959 image of the man pushing his stalled car in the wet rain. Wicked what a photo.

Simpson Kalisher, Photographer Who Captured Urban Grit, Dies at 96 (Published 2023)

He emerged from a largely commercial background to join the towering figures who defined an art form — street photography — in the 1950s and ’60s.

www.nytimes.com

His son Jesse Kalisher sadly pre-deceased him in 2017 and had created a seemingly incredible commercial business (outside the gallery he had). Wiki says his were the first photographs of Barack Obama acquired by the Smithsonian.

He creatively applied his marketing and photography interests into a winner. The company is ongoing w his staff of some 100 who work in the spirit of his DNA.

Kalisher | Original & Custom Fine Art

We’re a team of more than 100 artists, eccentrics, and engineers who create, commission, and manufacture comprehensive art collections for properties worldwide.

kalisher.com

and one of his interviews that showcase what he did.

https://www.adorama.com/alc/episode/hospitality-art-with-jesse-kalisher-the-redefine-show-with-tamara-lackey/

Thank you for posting this news of Simpson Kalisher's passing. My condolences to his family and friends.

The news takes me back to early in my career when I had the opportunity to participate in several group exhibits with Simpson Kalisher. Important among them was the Photography / 63 exhibition at George Eastman House. Although never meeting him, I have always had high regard for the work he produced over the years. We both benefitted from our friendship with Hugh Edwards, curator of photography at the Art Institute of Chicago.

I note that Hugh was on the nominating committee for the 1963 exhibition at Eastman House. A true gentleman, he had a deep love and understanding of photography as evidenced by the superb additions he made to the AIC photography collection during his years there.

 

[Rrrgcy]

I’m sorry for that. You all share what must be an incredible history in these arts.

(Coincidental you replied I received this in the mail from a north-of-Chicago bookseller today. I just really key on this photo. Photo advert card for Sept.-Oct. 1962 at the Chicago Art Institute. Maybe Mr. Edwards was behind the exhibit.)

thank you for posting condolences and to serve his work and memory.

 

[Sirius Glass]

The times he photographed the railroads was when I was just learning to walk. I could not see the New York Times website, but I enjoyed the rest. Thank you.

 

[Merg Ross]

I’m sorry for that. You all share what must be an incredible history in these arts.

(Coincidental you replied I received this in the mail from a north-of-Chicago bookseller today. I just really key on this photo. Photo advert card for Sept.-Oct. 1962 at the Chicago Art Institute. Maybe Mr. Edwards was behind the exhibit.)

thank you for posting condolences and to serve his work and memory.

Indeed a coincidence; that advert card is classic Kalisher! Thank you.

Yes, Hugh Edwards designed the Kalisher exhibition in 1962.. When I visited him at the Art Institute in 1963 he showed me the work of Art Sinsabaugh which he was planning to exhibit the following year. Hugh Edwards also designed and presented the first museum one-man exhibits of Robert Frank and Danny Lyon. (Frank in 1961 and Lyon in 1966.) As you can see, he was a very active curator of photography!

I first met Hugh Edwards by chance in 1959 when he was at George Eastman House selecting photographs for an exhibition at the Art Institute. A friendship was born that lasted until his death in 1986. In 2017 the Institute paid tribute to his accomplishments with a large exhibition: The Photographer's Curator: Hugh Edwards at the Art Institute of Chicago.

 

[Rrrgcy]

His (Edwards) appears a complete focus undivided on the artist.

From the AIC, “Edwards was, in fact, offered the chance to lead the photography department at MoMA, perhaps as an antidote to that approach [expansive and mixed exhibitions for a Wow Factor (my choice of words)]. When he declined, the position went to John Szarkowski, a photographer whose work Edwards had exhibited in 1960; Szarkowski, a close colleague, would go on to collaborate with Edwards on exhibitions during his influential thirty-year run at MoMA.”

“In modest-sized galleries—not much more than a hallway until he was granted a larger exhibition space—he presented clean, typically single-hung displays of small prints, letting the artist take center stage.” “Edwards was equally receptive to viewing new work; a report he drafted on his activities for the year 1967 states that he had examined an astonishing 357 portfolios brought in by aspiring photographers.”

And “Edwards felt that viewing photographs could change one’s outlook on humanity.”

I’m hopeful Mr. Kalisher‘s body of work embraced that effect. Thank you Merg Ross for expanding my understanding.

re gallery advert card:

Q. Is a five-week gallery exhibit a standard those days (if for the need to rotate sole artists)?

 

[Nicholas Lindan]

Very Walker Evans-y.

 

[Merg Ross]

His (Edwards) appears a complete focus undivided on the artist.

From the AIC, “Edwards was, in fact, offered the chance to lead the photography department at MoMA, perhaps as an antidote to that approach [expansive and mixed exhibitions for a Wow Factor (my choice of words)]. When he declined, the position went to John Szarkowski, a photographer whose work Edwards had exhibited in 1960; Szarkowski, a close colleague, would go on to collaborate with Edwards on exhibitions during his influential thirty-year run at MoMA.”

“In modest-sized galleries—not much more than a hallway until he was granted a larger exhibition space—he presented clean, typically single-hung displays of small prints, letting the artist take center stage.” “Edwards was equally receptive to viewing new work; a report he drafted on his activities for the year 1967 states that he had examined an astonishing 357 portfolios brought in by aspiring photographers.”

And “Edwards felt that viewing photographs could change one’s outlook on humanity.”

I’m hopeful Mr. Kalisher‘s body of work embraced that effect. Thank you Merg Ross for expanding my understanding.

re gallery advert card:

Q. Is a five-week gallery exhibit a standard those days (if for the need to rotate sole artists)?

Yes, typical gallery exhibits were from four to six weeks.