Artist Profile: Mary Ellen Mark (1940 — 2015)


On Monday, photojournalist Mary Ellen Mark passed away in New York City.  Over the course of her 40 year career, Mark photographed everyone from street kids to circus performances to mental patients to celebrities.  Along the way, she produced some unforgettable images and influenced generations of future photographers.  As you can see in the photographs below, it didn’t matter who Mary Ellen Mark was photographing.  Whether it was a celebrity or a teenage prostitute, Mark photographed them all with the same compassion and dignity.  You can view more of her work here.  Mary Ellen Mark, RIP.

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In Remembrance of Memorial Day


Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt

Photograph by Alfred Eisenstaedt

“They hover as a cloud of witnesses above this Nation.” — Henry Ward Beecher

We Can Do It

We Can Do It

Keep 'Em Flying Miss USA

Keep ‘Em Flying Miss USA

Be A Man

Be A Man

By Adolph Triedler

By Adolph Triedler

By Dean Cornwell

By Dean Cornwell

D-Day, Omaha Beach by Ken Riley

D-Day, Omaha Beach by Ken Riley

Marine Heading Ashore on D-Day by Tom Lea

Marine Heading Ashore on D-Day by Tom Lea

Chaplain by Tom Lea

Chaplain by Tom Lea

Two Thousand Yard Stare by Tom Lea

Two Thousand Yard Stare by Tom Lea

A Break in Combat by Qi Debrah

A Break in Combat by Qi Debrah

By Qi Debrah

By Qi Debrah

by Qui Debrah

by Qui Debrah

Anonymous

Anonymous

Artist Profile: Roger Mayne (1929 — 2014)


British photographer Roger Mayne was born in Cambridge and studied Chemistry at Balliol College, Oxford.  It was here that he became interested in photographic processing and took his first pictures.  Mentored by photographer Hugo van Wadenoyen, Mayne pursued a career as a photographer after graduating in 1951.  His photographs of life on Southam Street in Notting Dale made him a key figure in British photography’s break from pictorialism.  You can learn more about his life and his work by visiting Rogermayne.com.

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Artist Profile: Tom Lovell (1909 — 1987)


1-Tom Lovell - Evacuated At Night

Tom Lovell was born in New York City and sold his first illustrations when he was a junior at Syracuse University.  He was a prolific illustrator whose work appeared both in the pulps and in issues of National Geographic, where Lovell took great care to make sure that his paintings were historically accurate.  When asked about his work, Lovell once said, ” “I consider myself a storyteller with a brush. I try to place myself back in imagined situations that would make interesting and appealing pictures. I am intent on producing paintings that relate to the human experience.”  Tom Lovell was inducted into Illustrators Hall of Fame in 1974.

A sampling of both his pulp work and his historical paintings can be found below.

Detective Tales Dime Mystery 2 Dime Mystery Tom Lovell - Fire Outside the Window Tom Lovell - Panama Threat Tom Lovell - Silver Culture Tom Lovell - The Corpse Was Beautiful Tom Lovell - The Name is Betty vikingossaqueanmonaster x-a-viking-selling-a-slave-girl-to-a-persian-merchant-tom-lovell x393600-blackangel xlovell_theironshirt xTom Lovell - The Beach

Artist Profile: George Gross (1909 — 2003)


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New York-based artist George Gross got his start working for the pulp magazines in the 1940s and he was a prolific and in-demand artist for the next four decades.  Along with painting covers for Action Stories, Detective Book Magazine, Jungle Stories and countless other magazines, Gross also painted covers for the popular Avenger and Nick Carter paperback series.

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Artist Profile: Leonard Nimoy (1931 — 2015)


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“I became enamored with photography when I was about 13 or 14 years old. I’ve been at it ever since. I studied seriously in the ’70s”
— Leonard Nimoy

Today, the world was saddened to learn of the death of Leonard Nimoy.  While Nimoy may have been best known for playing Mr. Spock on Star Trek, he was also an acclaimed photographer who published three collections — Shekhina, The Full Body Project, and Secret Selves — of his work.  Nimoy’s work has been exhibited at the R. Michelson Galleries in Northampton, Massachusetts and the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art.  Nimoy described himself as being primarily a conceptual artist and his work explored issues of body image and his own Jewish heritage.

Leonard Nimoy, R.I.P.

Full Body Project Leonard Nimoy Photograph 01 Max and Dora nimoy-photo-2 shekhina-photo1 Shekhina-photo-491x379 81Espada_a zz179-1_sm

Artist Profile: Harry Bennett (1919 — 2012)


Embracing Extasy

Celebrate Valentine’s Day with these classic retro romance covers by Harry Bennett!  Born in New York and raised in Connecticut, Bennett served in World War II and later studied painting and illustration at Chicago’s American Academy of Art.  Starting in the 1950s, Bennett was one of the premier illustrators of gothic romance paperbacks.  After retiring from commercial illustration in his 60s, Bennett devoted himself to painting and exhibiting his own original work.

Bennett was responsible for a countless number of paperback covers.  A small sampling of his work can be found below:

Cry Shame 1950Angelfire Cobin's Fancy Mill Reef Hall My Lord Moonleigh Prince of Darkness The Devil on Lammas Night The Little Wax Doll Twin of Ice Twins of Fire Wanton Angel Warm Bodies Whitney My Love