George Platt Lynes (American, 1907-1955), Lew Christiensen, William Dollar & Daphne Vane performing Orpheus and Eurydice, c. 1936, Vintage Gelatin Silver Print
Keith de Lellis Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition of photographs that explore the history of dance in the 20th century, with works spanning from the 1920s to the 1960s. The poses, expressions, and moments formed in these photographs were also conceptualized through a phrase of dance, a surrealist notion that holds visually throughout these works. Together and separately, both dance and photography are ever-changing. ‘Focus on Dance’ to open on June 14th.
The Photography Show presented by AIPAD has announced the exhibitors for the 2023 show, which will be on view from March 31 through April 2, 2023, at Center415 on Fifth Avenue between 37th and 38th streets. The fair will open with a VIP Preview on March 30. The roster of galleries includes members of the prestigious Association of International Photography Art Dealers known as AIPAD, recognized as the world’s leading galleries of fine art photography, as well as an exceptional selection of emerging galleries new to AIPAD.
Keith de Lellis Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition of over forty photographs created during the 19th and 20th centuries that historically altered and redefined the capabilities of the medium by utilizing pre-digital innovations such as photo montage, photo collage, double exposures and the darkroom process of composite printing. This show elegantly brings together photographs motivated by both advertising and artistic intents to highlight the significant level of ingenuity applied by artists across the fields to deliberately visualize their subject matter, of which many on display are painstakingly constructed by hand. An example of such artistry is found in a star-studded montage published by L. J. Lipp Publishing of Hollywood, California in 1928 with hundreds of faces of Hollywood’s famous actors and actresses, including Charlie Chaplin and Tom Mix, Hollywood’s first Western star. In another photograph we witness a beaming Fred Astaire miraculously dancing through the clouds as he plays the role of Charlie Hill from the 1952 film The Belle of New York.
Anthony Barboza (African-American, b. 1944), Liberty – Pensacola, Florida (Composite with American Flag), 1966
The exhibition Anthony Barboza: Moments of Humanity will open at Keith de Lellis Gallery on November 22nd, highlighting Barbara’s ability to use the camera as a tool for establishing an empowering narrative of hope for the Black Community in America during a historic time of inequality and adversity.
Gordon Coster, Grain Elevators, 1940. Image courtesy Keith de Lellis Gallery.
Keith de Lellis Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition on the subject of photographic images of industrial buildings and structures by American and European photographers in the twentieth century. Inspired by The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Bernd & Hilla Becher exhibition now on view at the museum through November 6, Industrial Architecture in Photography pays homage to the renowned husband and wife team Bernd and Hilla Becher. The prolific contemporary German artist duo focused on photographing and preserving a visual record of the industrial architecture of Western Europe and North America by methodically recording blast furnaces, water towers, grain elevators and other buildings with meticulous precision.
Vittorio Ronconi, Mitico Solidarietà, Romagnola (Mythical Solidarity, Romagna), c. 1960. Image courtesy Keith de Lellis Gallery
Keith de Lellis Gallery is pleased to present a group exhibition of prominent Italian photographers who poetically document the heart of Catholic life in Italy during the mid-twentieth century, a time when the sanctity of religion was deeply intertwined with daily life. Italy is the home of Vatican City, the eminent holy city for Catholics which has served as the headquarters of the Roman Catholic Church since the fourth century and remains the largest Christian church in the world today.
Keith de Lellis Gallery presents a selection of over fifty photographs assigned by the editors for the pages of Life Magazine, one of the most renowned picture magazines in the world. Published weekly from 1936 to 1972, the magazine chronicled in image and word every historical event both big and small that impacted the lives of Americans north, south, east and west. Life revolutionized how readers experienced these historical events by pioneering the photo-essay, where narratives are told through the power of pictures while words take on a less significant role. This exhibition captures the wide-ranging themes published in Life Magazine including politics, war and race to popular culture, major sporting events and everyday moments that were at the heart of American culture in the twentieth century.
Keith de Lellis Gallery presents a selection of sixteen accomplished mid-century Swedish photographers whose innovative work has remained relatively unfamiliar to the American public. Ten of these individuals were part of TIO (a Swedish word for “ten”), a collective of Swedish photographers established in 1958. From nature and industrial scenes to abstraction and fashion, Swedish Modern captures the broad range of creative styles and interests that were present in the minds of mid-century Swedish artists. What unites the wide variety of subject matter between the photographers in this exhibition is their shared attitude of inquiry into the possibilities of what the camera is capable of.
Blown Headlines: High winds blow loose newspaper pages around 125th street near the IRT Subway entrance as some people make their way to work that morning, Harlem, New York, 2006
Keith de Lellis Gallery is honored to present the photography of Ozier Muhammad in the artist’s first one man exhibition in New York. Ozier Muhammad (b. 1950) is a Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist from Chicago who has documented the cultural events of black citizens across the world for over four decades. This exhibition showcases Muhammad’s dedication to utilizing photography as a truth telling medium that explores racial issues throughout society and sheds light on the daily joys and strife of the African and African American communities.
Panorama Studio, Empire State Building & Dirigible “Los Angeles,”, 1931. Image courtesy of the gallery.
In May, 2021, The Empire State Building celebrated its 90th anniversary. This month, Keith de Lellis Gallery celebrates the 90th anniversary of New York City’s magnificent Art Deco skyscraper in its summer exhibition. After demolishing the famous original Waldorf Astoria Hotel on Fifth Avenue in 1929, the Bethlehem Engineering Corporation took on the world’s most ambitious building project to date: the construction of the Empire State Building, the first 100+ story building. The Chrysler Building, with 77 stories, briefly held the title of the world’s tallest building before being unseated by the Empire State a mere 11 months later. Dwarfing all surrounding buildings, the Empire State stands at 1,454 feet tall. Construction began on March 17th, 1930 and was completed in record time, opening on May 1, 1931. As a tourist attraction, the site found immediate success, collecting a ten-cent fee for a bird’s eye view of New York City from telescopes atop the observatory.
David Attie, Untitled, c. 1970. Image courtesy of the Gallery
Something kind of special from Keith de Lellis Gallery, with a statement by the photographer’s son, ‘How my father David Attie invented Photoshop in the 1950s. And had his career launched by Truman Capote‘ ~ by Eli Attie. Yes, it got our attention.
Lot 178: Allyn Z. Baum, Tanker sinking under Brooklyn Bridge, 1960s, Est. $1,200-$1,500
Keith de Lellis Gallery will be holding the third in a series of online auctions on Saturday, February 27 at 2:00pm. The auction will be offering a diverse grouping of roughly 350 museum-quality photographs and will be available on both the Live Auctioneers and Invaluable platforms.
Anthony Barboza, Lou Draper, 1970s, Courtesy Keith de Lellis Gallery
Keith de Lellis Gallery presents the work of three early Kamoinge photographers for this winter exhibition. The name “Kamoinge” comes from the Kikuyu language of Kenya and means a group of people acting together. The Kamoinge mission statement: To HONOR, document, preserve, and represent the history and culture of the African Diaspora with integrity and respect for humanity through the lens of Black photographers.” (Kamoinge.com). 3 Points of View ~ Anthony Barboza, Beuford Smith, and Shawn Walker.
Take a look inside Black America: 3 Points of View from Kamoinge Photographers.
Carl Van Vechten, Allen Meadows, c. 1940. Image courtesy Keith de Lellis Gallery
Keith de Lellis Gallery celebrates the portraiture of Carl Van Vechten (American, 1880-1964) in its spring exhibition in the Online Viewing Room. Van Vechten moved to New York City from Chicago in 1906 to pursue a writing career (he would become the first American critic of modern dance while contributing to the New York Times) before dedicating himself to photography.
Carl Van Vechten, Diahann Carroll in “House of Flowers,” 1955. Image courtesy Keith de Lellis Gallery
Keith de Lellis Gallery celebrates the portraiture of Carl Van Vechten (American, 1880-1964) in its spring exhibition, Beyond the Harlem Renaissance: African American Portraits by Carl Van Vechten, opening April 9, 2020.
