Jerry Dantzic: Moving
April 7 - May 21
Foley gallery is pleased to announce Moving, an exhibition detailing the motion and emotion of New York in the 1950’s by Brooklyn based photographer Jerry Dantzic. Best known for his 1978 Museum of Modern Art solo exhibition of Cirkut camera panoramas of the United States, Dantzic reveals his best-kept secret in Moving.
This little known group of 1950’s black and white images was recently discovered by his son Grayson by chance in Dantzic’s Brooklyn Brownstone studio. What he found were a staggering amount of black and white photographs and negatives that held an historic record of a city filled with moments of movement and emotion.
The photograph Mambo Jambo, Palladium Ballroom, 1952, captures the exhilaration and vibrancy of New York in the 1950’s. Joining this example are images of a wide-eyed and smiling Louis Armstrong in a CBS rehearsal studio, a pensive playing Miles Davis and an elegant Sarah Vaughan at the New York Jazz Festival on Randall’s Island.
Throughout Dantzic captures moments of celebration and the city dwellers that are enjoying them: The revelers in Times Square on New Year’s Eve, a hot summer bongo session under the Coney Island Boardwalk and an impassioned ride on Feltman’s Carousel. These moments of outward emotion are balanced by ones that are quieter, but no less engaging. 30 Seconds to Marriage, 1952 and Lovers, Trinity Churchyard, 1955 give way to private moments filled with emotions that allow us to reflect on who we are.
Along Dantzic’s journey, we take a ride from the airport with Ingrid Bergman in the back of her limousine and a walk on the hi-wire with the juggling cups and saucers man. Dantzic takes us to the highs of New York in a time when everything was possible and each stop proved more exciting than the next.
Jerry Dantzic (b. Baltimore, Maryland 1925) received his degree from Kent State University in 1949 and later went on to study with the renowned art director Alexey Brodovitch at the New School for Social Research in New York. He is the recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts grant and two Guggenheim Fellowships. His work is held in the permanent collections of the Art Institute of Chicago, International Center of Photography, Museum of Modern Art, Smithsonian Institution, Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Whitney Museum of American Art.
Gallery Hours:Tuesday-Saturday 11-6 pm