Notes And Comments

NOTES AND COMMENTS

TWO NEW GALLERIES

Two little galleries opened in May which aim to display and sell photographs. "LIMELIGHT" is at 91 South 7th in the Village in New York City. The "PHOTOGRAPHER'S GALLERY" is three thousand miles across the continent, and a stone's throw from Fisherman's Wharf, at 448 Bay St. in San Francisco.

The “PHOTOGRAPHER’S GALLERY” was organized by a group of young photographers to fill their demands for a commercial outlet for their creative work— or at least one that had commercial overtones. Since none of them have any illusions about selling photographs as pictures, they worked out a scheme whereby each pays a small amount each month to cover the overhead and depend on the wife of one of the members, Barbara Zrnich, to be on hand during the hours when the gallery is open to the public. (7-9 p.m., Monday through Friday, and 2-6 p.m., Saturdays and Sundays.) The whole operation is a minuscule affair but it is a very realistic manner of handling a knotty problem. If the sales are low, neither are the photographs sitting unseen in a box.

The photographers are: Stan Zrnich, Charles Wong, Ed Stiles, Gerald Ratto, Robert Layton, Janet Graham, Oliver Gagliani, John Cockroft, and Paul Burlingame. They plan group and one man shows and expect to keep a small stock of members’ and non-members’ photographs for sale.

“LIMELIGHT” is a white painted coffee shop and gallery combination with the picture gallery separated from the tables. This is an important distinction if the photographs are to be seen for their own sake and for sale; otherwise they become decoration for a charming atmosphere.

This is another shoestring venture and Helen Gee, whose ideas and leadership are at work here, also has no illusions about selling creative photographs—the coffee shop is expected to support the gallery. By latest reports “LIMELIGHT” is here to stay.

The work of many well known creative photographers, both foreign and domestic, are planned at six-week intervals. It opened with pictures from Korea by Joseph Breitenbach; an unfortunate choice because photographs made for magazine publication rarely look well on walls. The future program promises the pictorial qualities that people look for in pictures they wish to purchase for their homes or collections.

It is a healthy sign for creative photography that these two new outlets have appeared; they continue in their own way what Stieglitz and has various galleries meant to photography. I hope they continue a long time. Their chances of survival while not brilliant are based on a realistic support of a program to show and sell fine photographs.

PHOTOGRAPHS WANTED

Dr. Otto Steinert is preparing a second volume of “SUBJEKTIVE FOTOGRAPHIE” and would like appropriate material from photographers anywhere. Address / Dr. Otto Steinert, Direktor Der Staatlichen Schule Für Kunst, Saarbrücken, Germany.