February 22, 2024

In Celebration of Black History Month, GME Highlights Photographer Hugh Bell and The Kamoinge Workshop

February 22, 2024/ Jon Gartenberg

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.

October 27, 2023

GME Remembers Iconic Actor Richard Roundtree

October 27, 2023/ Jon Gartenberg

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.

March 07, 2023

Never-Before-Seen Footage Offers Intimate Portrait of Thelonious Monk in Paris Showing at BAM Mar 10-16

March 07, 2023/ Jon Gartenberg

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.

February 26, 2023

Rapper-Actor Common in Broadway Stage Debut

February 26, 2023/ Jon Gartenberg

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.

January 11, 2023

Hugh Bell’s Iconic Photo Hot Jazz (1952) Installed at the Museum of Modern Art

January 11, 2023/ Jon Gartenberg

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.

November 16, 2022

Recent Raimondo Borea and Hugh Bell Photo Licenses and Exhibition News

November 16, 2022/ Jon Gartenberg

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.

November 11, 2022

Now Playing: GME Licenses Footage for Jonas Mekas Doc FRAGMENTS OF PARADISE and Hugh Bell’s Album Cover Photograph for Abortion Drama DEAR JANE

November 11, 2022/ Jon Gartenberg

FRAGMENTS OF PARADISE is a story about finding beauty amidst profound loss, a story of a man who was also the most significant force behind the evolution and promotion of the American Avant-Garde film movement, and who tried to make sense of it all…with a camera. GME licensed numerous clips of Mekas filming with his camera from Gideon Bachmann's UNDERGROUND NEW YORK (1968), a rare behind-the-scenes view of the exploding New York “underground” in the late sixties, a turbulent time and place that was to change American culture forever.

October 26, 2022

LEADER OF THE PACK ALBUM COVER PHOTO BY HUGH BELL LICENSED FOR ABORTION DRAMA FEATURE CALL JANE, CURRENTLY IN THEATRICAL RELEASE

October 26, 2022/ Jon Gartenberg

Now in theaters, director Phyllis Nagy’s CALL JANE, stars Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Mara, in a drama about a 1960s housewife (Banks) who joins the Jane Collective to fight for women's rights as she struggles to cope with her need for an abortion during a time of limited social or political support.

September 08, 2022

Hugh Bell Photos Chosen for A Picture Gallery of the Soul Exhibition at The Katherine E. Nash Gallery

September 08, 2022/ Jon Gartenberg

The University of Minnesota gallery will present two photos by Hugh Bell in their upcoming fall exhibition, a group exhibition of over 100 Black American artists whose work incorporates the photographic medium.

July 04, 2022

LEADER OF THE PACK ALBUM COVER PHOTO BY HUGH BELL LICENSED FOR PHYLLIS NAGY ABORTION DRAMA FEATURE

July 04, 2022/ Jon Gartenberg

This photo for the cover of The Shangri-Las debut album from 1965 is one of many commercial photos by Hugh Bell, whose photographs appeared on dozens of album covers throughout the period. They primarily featured jazz artists, including Sarah Vaughn, Dexter Gordon, Sonny Stitt, Cannonball Adderly, Houston Person, Bill Hardman, Larry Coryell, and the Nat Dixon Quartet. Director Nagy included this cover in her upcoming Roadside Attractions release CALL JANE, starring Elizabeth Banks, Sigourney Weaver, and Kate Mara, about a 1960s housewife (Banks) who joins the Jane Collective to fight for women's rights as she struggles to cope with her need for an abortion during a time of limited social or political support.