Hugh Bell’s iconic photograph Hot Jazz (1952) was exhibited in Edward Steichen’s groundbreaking exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art, The Family of Man, in 1955. Now, for the first time since then, this photograph is currently installed in MoMA”s Gallery 402, which is dedicated to the theme In and Around Harlem. The placement of Bell’s jazz photograph alongside other artworks in this space, including painter Jacob Lawerence’s epic Migration Series and the seminal 16mm film IN THE STREET (Helen Levitt, Janice Loeb, and James Agee, 1952), elevates Bell’s significance as a creative force working in the figurative mode during this postwar period.

Previously, GME has spearheaded the exhibition of Hugh Bell’s photographs at Harvard University (Art of Jazz, 2016) and the University of Minnesota (A Picture Gallery of the Soul, 2022) as well as the and acquisition of silver gelatin prints by the National Museum of African American History and Culture 2020). We have also licensed Bell’s photographs for the films BILLIE (2019) and CALL JANE (2022), for the USPS Forever Stamp Issue of Sarah Vaughn (2016), and for the book by Deborah Willis (her forthcoming new edition of Reflections in Black, 2023), catalogues for the aforementioned exhibitions, and recent articles in BuzzFeed News.

◊

Last month, the GME staff and members of the Bell family linked up at MoMA to view the photo together.

Middle: Hugh Bell's daughter, April Bell-Martha and GME Fine Arts Curator David Deitch, Bottom left: GME President Jon Gartenberg with Bell-Martha family, Bottom right: group selfie with April Bell-Martha and Richard Martha with their children, and GME consultant Fred Riedel

Hugh Bell began his career as a photographer in the early 1950s, and his photograph entitled Hot Jazz was exhibited in the “Family of Man” exhibition at The Museum of Modern Art in 1955. Over the course of his career, Bell, himself of Afro-Caribbean heritage, photographed many aspects of the African-American experience, including the pioneering stage production of Jean Genet’s “The Blacks” (1961, featuring James Earl Jones, Roscoe Lee Brown, Cicely Tyson, and Maya Angelou); a “Jazz Giants” series (featuring Duke Ellington, Louis Armstrong, Billie Holiday, Sarah Vaughan, and many other musicians and performers); dancer Geoffrey Holder; Afro-Caribbean culture; female nudes for a photo spread in Avant-Garde magazine; and print advertisements for companies (such as Maxwell House Coffee, Miller Beer, IBM Computers, Gulf Gasoline, and the US Navy), all of which were geared to the African-American community. During the 1980s and 1990s, Hugh Bell photographed numerous gay and lesbian events, including Gay Pride marches, Wigstock and the Greenwich Village Halloween parades. Gartenberg Media has provided silver gelatin prints and digital copies of Bell's work for major exhibitions, museum acquisitions, and film and television productions.

Gartenberg Media Enterprises (GME) is the exclusive representative of the Estate of Hugh Bell. For more information about Hugh Bell and his legacy, please contact David Deitch, Fine Arts Curator, at david@gartenbergmedia.com.