James Earl Jones Remembered with Photographs by Hugh Bell
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GME News
GME Celebrates International Jazz Day with Hugh Bell: Jazz Portraits and Album Covers
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April 30th was declared International Jazz Day by UNESCO in 2011, and has since become the world’s largest celebration of jazz. In honor of International Jazz Day, GME highlights photographs from the Hugh Bell collection that capture a number of jazz legends from the 1950s through the 1980s.
Read MoreIn Celebration of Black History Month, GME Highlights Photographer Hugh Bell and The Kamoinge Workshop
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In 1955, Edward Steichen, then Director of the Photography Department at MoMA, mounted an exhibition of images from around the world as a “manifesto for peace and the fundamental equality of mankind.” That exhibition, titled The Family of Man, quickly became a 20th century cultural phenomenon and was added to UNESCO’s Memory of the World register in recognition of its historical value. “Hot Jazz” (pictured here) by Black photographer Hugh Bell (1927—2012) was selected for this ambitious exhibit. This Black History Month, GME highlights Bell’s impressive body of work (namely his suite of images of Jazz Greats from the 1950s) and his influence on the Kamoinge Workshop.
Read MoreGME Remembers Mary Weiss, Lead Singer of The Shangri-Las
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GME remembers singer Mary Weiss, best known as the frontwoman of the 1960s girl group The Shangri-Las, who passed away on January 19th, 2024, at the age of 75. The cover photo for The Shangri-Las’ first album, Leader of the Pack, was taken by photographer Hugh Bell, whose vast collection GME represents. Notably, GME licensed Bell’s Leader of the Pack cover art for the 2022 film Call Jane, a 1970s-set abortion drama directed by Phyllis Nagy and starring Elizabeth Banks, which features the LP in one of its scenes.
Read MoreGME Remembers Iconic Actor Richard Roundtree
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On Tuesday, October 24th, 2023, actor Richard Roundtree died at the age of 81 following a brief battle with pancreatic cancer. A pioneering performer who broke down barriers for Black actors, Roundtree was photographed at the height of his fame by Hugh Bell, a photographer who broke down barriers for Black visual artists and whose body of work GME exclusively represents.
Read MoreA Look at GME's Hugh Bell Photo Collection In Honor of LGBTQ+ History Month
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On the occasion of October being LGBTQ+ History Month, GME reflects on gems from our photo collections that were taken by queer photographers and/or spotlight the beauty and diversity of queer communities over the past several decades. First up is Hugh Bell, a highly-prolific visual artist whose candid images of LGBTQ+ community members in the 1980s and ‘90s remain potent historical artifacts.
Read MoreNever-Before-Seen Footage Offers Intimate Portrait of Thelonious Monk in Paris Showing at BAM Mar 10-16
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A wealth of never-before-seen footage in offers a gripping and intimate portrait of Thelonious Monk in Paris, 1969. The legendary pianist and composer arrives for a TV interview before his evening concert, where he is met with racist, colonialist acts both large and small.
Read MoreRapper-Actor Common in Broadway Stage Debut
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Rapper and actor Common recently made his Broadway debut in New York Times Critic Pick “Between Riverside and Crazy.” The Pulitzer Prize winning play by Stephen Adly Guirgis enjoyed a successful, holiday season run at the Helen Hayes Theater.
Read MoreHugh Bell’s Iconic Photo Hot Jazz (1952) Installed at the Museum of Modern Art
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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.
Read MoreRecent Raimondo Borea and Hugh Bell Photo Licenses and Exhibition News
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GME has licensed two of Raimondo Borea’s unique, behind the scenes photos of Dave Garroway, the original host and Anchor of NBC’s TODAY for an upcoming Bear Manor Media book by Jodie Peeler, and 3 iconic jazz photographs by Hugh Bell of Thelonious Monk, Sarah Vaughan and Billie Holiday for the new edition of 'ReFraming: REFLECTIONS IN BLACK,' Deborah Willis updating of her 2000 groundbreaking pictorial collection of African American life.
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