GME News
Jon Gartenberg presenting with Nicola Mazzanti (director of the Royal Belgian Film Archive) on the first night of the Warren Sonbert retrospective as part of the L'Age d'Or Film Festival in Brussels. Below is also an image of Warren Sonbert's film WHIPLASH on the monitor of the festival theater's lobby.
Jon Gartenberg & Nicola Mazzanti
Shot of WHIPLASH on TV monitor.
Jon Gartenberg attended the 2015 American Photography Archives Group (APAG) conference from Friday 9/18 to Saturday 9/19 at the International Center of Photography (ICP). GME represents the estates of photographers Raimondo Borea and Hugh Bell.
Group photo from the 2nd Annual American Photography Archives Group (APAG) 2015 Seminar at the ICP Photography Center.
"Where Did Our Love Go? Films of Warren Sonbert" program at Media City in Toronto, Ontario that played last week. Program was curated by Jeremy Rossen and the films were introduced by Carla Harryman, one of the L=A=N=G=U=A=G=E poets with whom Sonbert interacted in his artistic practice.
Framework: The Journal of Cinema and Media has just released its latest issue devoted entirely to the writings of avant-garde artist Warren Sonbert. The journal features reproductions of Sonbert's original typed, handwritten and published documents. The issue is guest edited by Jon Gartenberg and is organized into sections related to Sonbert's interests in art, music, poetry, travel and film.
Below is an excerpt from Jon Gartenberg's introduction to the issue entitled A Delicate Balance: Warren Sonbert's Creative Legacy:
"For the very first time, a selection of writings by filmmaker Warren Sonbert is assembled together in this special edition of Framework. Although known primarily as an experimental filmmaker, Sonbert and his career extended deeply into other realms of the creative arts. He was an opera, music, and film critic; a kindred spirit to the Language poets; a screenplay author who adapted Strauss’s 1940–41 opera Capriccio; a collaborator on other filmmaker’s productions (Gerard Malanga’s In Search of the Miraculous [US, 1967] and Charles Henri Ford’s Johnny Minotaur [US, 1971]); an essayist on both the fine and performing arts; and a leading theoretician on cinematic montage. The objective of these collected writings, then, is to expand the narrow categorization of Sonbert as a now- deceased, marginalized experimental filmmaker into a broader reconsideration of his entire creative career. This endeavor should serve to reposition his legacy as a truly Renaissance thinker who articulated, in both profound and coherent fashion, how diverse forms of artistic expression can be so deeply connected to the human condition.
Even for students of film history who are familiar with Sonbert’s cinematic output, the texts assembled in this publication are sure to be a revelation. “Film Syntax,” Sonbert’s most renowned essay, which so lucidly articulates his unique theory of montage, has been printed numerous times in various publications. Aside from this text, however, the other articles authored by Sonbert and reproduced herein are from more obscure publications or now defunct journals, including Shiny, Motion Picture, Tikkun, CinemaNews, Spiral, and the NY Film Bulletin. In addition, numerous unpublished notes, reflections, and essays that were authored by Sonbert—both handwritten and typed—have been gathered together to be published for the first time in this journal…
…We have organized Sonbert’s writings into the following broad classifications: art, travel, music, poetry, and film. These are not designed to be rigid categoriza- tions, but rather as points of departure to demonstrate Sonbert’s facility in his dialogue between all the art forms. Our inclusion of the travel category represents the central role Sonbert’s own journeys across time and space—both physical and creative—played in the development of the artist’s own practice of his craft.9 Only in considering Sonbert’s entire creative output as a coherent entity—filmed, written, and spoken, as well as his lived experiences through travel—can we truly appreciate his genius both as an artist and humanist."
GME is the exclusive representative of the estate of Warren Sonbert. For more information on the Warren Sonbert project see our programming page.
GME associates David Deitch and Alex Westhelle preparing for an illustrated talk on the life and career of photographer Raimondo Borea at PhotoShelter in Union Square, New York City on April 2, 2015. Presented under the auspices of ASPP, this unique event was very well attended.
GME’s specialty is working with deceased photographers’ estates, and President Jon Gartenberg also led a lively discussion about his company’s work in excavating, identifying, cataloguing, and repurposing the legacy of overlooked, but historically important, photographers.
The original announcement about this presentation is noted below:
David Deitch and Alex Westhelle handling original photos and documents from the estate of photographer Raimondo Borea.
© The Estate of Raimondo Borea
Archivists and dealers Jon Gartenberg and David Deitch of Gartenberg Media Enterprises discuss the life and work of Raimondo Borea, entertainment and NYC street photographer, active from the 1950’s through the early ’80s.
Mr. Borea’s work included celebrity portraits and on-set photography for NBC. He was also an active member and past president of ASPP. Images from the Borea collection: both original prints and projections will be on view. His daughter, Carla Borea,will share her memories and her wishes for the preservation of his legacy.
Mr. Gartenberg and Mr. Deitch will also discuss the issues and concerns in the handling of photographic legacies, and the preservation and marketing of an estate collection.
http://aspp.com/whats-left-behind-photographic-estate-raimondo-borea-new-york-april-2-2015/
GME is proud to announce that we will be presenting on the life, work and legacy of photographer Raimondo Borea, one of our very own library projects. Hosted by The American Society of Picture Professionals (ASPP), "What's Left Behind: The Photographic Estate Of Raimondo Borea" will be presented at the PhotoShelter, Thursday April 2 at 6:30pm.
Portrait of Raimondo Borea
Thomas Allen Harris’s film on the history of Black photographers, THROUGH A LENS DARKLY to be shown on PBS as part of their Independent Lens series. The film features the late photographer Hugh Bell, which GME is working with the estate of to archive his collection and promote his legacy. On PBS, Monday, February 16th at 10pm.
Published by Afterimage, "The Preservation And Censorship Of Johnny Minotaur, A Queer Cinema Classic" by Kyle Harris. Jon Gartenberg was interviewed for article about his time at MoMA and the screening of challenging work.
Here is a link to the afterimage website with excerpt from the article and video of Charles Henri Ford by Ronnie Birk:
http://vsw.org/afterimage/2014/10/28/a-short-silent-by-ronnie-burk/
Jon Gartenberg will be part of a round table discussion with film theorist Laura Mulvey, artist Jenny Marketou, director of the Cinemateca Portuguesa Jose Manuel Costa & director of the festival Maria Komninos on the subject of film and audiovisual archives. Part of the 8th Athens Avant-Garde Film Festival, Greece. November 20th at 4pm, free admission.
http://8aagff.tainiothiki.gr/en/parallel-events/film-and-audiovisual
Tassilo Adam photograph © Tropenmuseum, Amsterdam
Daniel Eagan on Smithsonian.com blogged:
"Jon Gartenberg showed excerpts from films shot by Tassilo Adam in the Dutch East Indies in the 1920s. Although preserved digitally, the material had the lustrous sheen of the nitrate on which it was originally filmed. Adam filmed with the cooperation of authorities, who staged processions and gatherings for his camera. Nevertheless, his footage shows a considerably more sophisticated vision of Bali than other films of the period."
For the full Reel Culture blog posting, read here.
