friends of photography History Photography

friends of photography

Wed, 25 Jan 2012 17:47:59 | History Photography

The Friends of Photography was a group of photographers, photo historians, and photo enthusiasts who were dedicated to the promotion of creative photography through exhibitions, publications, workshops, and community outreach programs in the greater San Francisco area. For nearly 34 years the group supported the medium of photography and its practitioners through active and varied community programs.

The Friends of Photography was officially established when a core group of 12 individuals met at the home of Virginia and Ansel Adams in Carmel, California, on January 1, 1967. The Founding Group included Arthur Connell, photographers Morely Baer, Wynn Bullock, Gerald Robinson, Gerry Shape, and Cole Weston, writer and photographer Liliane DeCock Morgan, architect Edgar Bissantz, musician Rosario Mazzeo, and photo historians Nancy and Beaumont Newhall. Ansel Adams was elected President and Brett Weston was named Vice President. The diverse makeup of this initial group, which included people engaged with photography on varied levels, established the group's unique perspective. Created at that time was the first Board of Trustees, consisting of 18 Trustees; the position of Honorary Trustee was established in 1985. An Advisory Committee was elected and those people were formally designated as Advisory Trustees in 1974.

For the first three years operations were handled by volunteer committees led by members of the Board of Trustees. In 1972, as The Friends became more established, a full-time, professional and paid staff was hired to operate the organization's growing program. Membership revenue was the largest single income source for The Friends, which was augmented by wholesale and retail sale of books as well as special offers of fine prints and books to members.

Exhibitions were a significant component of The Friends of Photography's program, offering a venue for audiences to explore and be inspired by all styles and generations of creative photography. The work of Adams, Wynn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Brett Weston, Edward Weston, and Minor White comprised the first exhibition of The Friends of Photography, which was held in the historic Sunset Center in Carmel, California, from June 23 through July 30, 1967. Later in 1969, a second gallery was opened in the same complex allowing simultaneous exhibitions until 1976 when all exhibitions were on view in the Sunset Center's main gallery. That first year, The Friends held four additional exhibitions that included the work of Eugene Atget, Ruth-Marion Baruch, Bruce Davidson, Pirkle Jones, W. Eugene Smith, and Paul Strand.

The exhibition program continued through 2001, rotating monthly or bi-monthly, and included the work of Berenice Abbott, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Paul Caponigro, Harry Callahan, Judy Dater, Emmett Gowin, Robert Heinecken, Anthony Hernandez, Lewis Hine, Harold Jones, Barbara Morgan, Marion Palfi, Robert Rauschenberg, Edmund Teske, Jerry N. Uelsmann, Todd Walker, and Adam Clark Vroman, to name only a sampling. Also mounted were thematic exhibitions such as Ten Top European Photographers, East and West (1971), Classics of Documentary Photography (1976), The Photograph as Artifice (1978), Dyed Images: Recent Work in Dye Transfer (1982), Narrative Images/Post-Documentary Photography (1987), Proof: LA Art and The Photograph 1960-1980 (1993), and Landscapes of War: The American Civil War in Photographs (1997). Over the years, there were ten exhibitions that featured the work of the members of The Friends of Photography. During the early years (1967-1972) exhibitions were organized by a committee headed by Wynn Bullock. With the formation of a paid staff, the position of curator was established and made responsible for organizing all exhibitions or inviting special guest curators.

As the organization grew, so did its breadth of publications. As an early form of communicating news to members, mimeographed newsletters were sent out to members (eight between 1970 and 1972). Beginning in January 1978 and running until December 1986 a monthly publication titled The Newsletter of The Friends of Photography was mailed to its members. From January 1987 through spring 2001, Review, Newsletter of The Friends of Photography was distributed to members monthly. In 1972, The Friends of Photography released its Untitled series; over the subsequent 22 years, 58 issues were published and beginning in the late 1970s, each issue focused on one artist or theme with a unique design to complement the content. Each member received a copy of Untitled and individual titles were also available for sale. Beginning in autumn 1994, and running until spring, 1996 The Friends published for their members see: a journal of visual culture, which included photography, creative writing, and criticism.

With the death of Ansel Adams in 1984, The Friends of Photography began a search for a new location in San Francisco. Named the Ansel Adams Center, this facility opened in 1989, and was first located on Pier 1 at Fort Mason before relocating to the Yerba Buena Center, where it had five exhibition spaces and an extensive photography bookstore. The final location was 655 Mission Street in San Francisco.

Conceived of as a living and growing educational force, education through, The Friends had a tremendous impact on the whole community from children to seniors. Beginning in 1969 The Friends held educational seminars and workshops focused on practical photography skills. Over the history of the group, educators involved included Adams, Morley Baer, photo historians and critics Peter Bun-nell and Andy Grundberg, Linda Conner, Imogen Cunningham, Robert Dawson, Rod Dresser, Lee Friedlander, Emmet Gowin, Michael Kenna, Mark Klett, Annie Leibovitz, Ellen Manchester, Sally Mann, Richard Misrach, Lisette Model, Wright Morris, Olivia Parker, Meridel Rubenstein, John Sexton, Ruth Thorne-Thompsen, Al Weber, and Jack Welpott.

Specific goals of the education and outreach program included the promotion of visual literacy and the implementation of innovative programs that used photography to increase involvement with local communities. Some of the programs sponsored by The Friends included: The Look Again! program that promoted museum/school collaboration; Hands on History of Photography aimed at familiarizing high school students with the history of the medium; Workshops for Educators were one-day sessions aimed at primary and secondary teachers accompanied by Resources for Educators, which provided hands-on educational materials free of charge; designed for grades 4-8 was Ansel Adams' Curriculum Resource for Teachers focused on Adams' accomplishments in photography. In the late 1990s, The Friends offered free photography classes for children, youth, and adults through Community Partnerships with Bayview Opera House, Ruth Williams Memorial Theater, and Horace Mann Academic Middle School.

On October 31, 2001, due to rising rent costs in San Francisco and budgetary deficiencies, The Friends of Photography closed all operations and exhibitions. All of the group's assets were distributed among other organizations. The San Francisco Art Institute received the 3,000-volume library, the archives and records were given to the University of Arizona's Center for Creative Photography, and The Oakland Museum of California adopted the education program operating with funds from The Friends of Photography Education Endowment.

Rebecca Morse

See also: Abbott, Berenice; Adams, Ansel; Alvarez Bravo, Manuel; Atget, Eugene; Callahan, Harry; Caponigro, Paul; Center for Creative Photography; Cunningham, Imogen; Davidson, Bruce; Gowin, Emmett; Heinecken, Robert; Hine, Lewis; Jones, Harold; Jones, Pirkle; Lange, Dorothea; Leibovitz, Annie; Morris, Wright; Newhall, Beaumont; Rauschenberg, Robert; Strand, Paul; Teske, Edmund; Uelsmann, Jerry N.; Welpott, Jack; Wes-ton, Edward; White, Minor

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