Copycat

This is what happens when an artist-wannabe copies someone else's artwork, and then (years later) because of something else they do, they become infamous, and their copyright violation comes to light.

Like Richard Burton said... (sightly modified): "An [ass]hole, is an [ass]hole, is an [ass]hole."

Tks JWB.

Grounded

I was supposed to fly back to San Diego today, but after wasting half a day sitting in Dulles, the whole trip has been cancelled and I've made my way back home in a messy snow day here in the DC area.

View from my Second Floor Window

Bad news is that my most precious asset is time, and I've wasted a lot of it today; the good news is that now I can make the First Friday Gallery Crawl around Dupont Circle! And this is good, because I am really looking forward to seeing Molly Springfield's show at JET Artworks, which really needs to get off their ass and get their website going.


View from my Bedroom Window

Lida Moser is Coming

Opening on March 18, 2005 and through April 13, 2005, our Fraser Gallery in Georgetown will be hosting the first ever Washington, DC solo exhibition of legendary American photographer Lida Moser, who now lives in retirement in nearby Rockville, Maryland.

This 85-year-old photographer is not only one of the most respected American photographers of the 20th century, but also a pioneer in the field of photojournalism. Her photography is currently in the middle of a revival and rediscovery, and has sold as high as $4,000 in recent Christie's auctions and continues to be collected by both museums and private collectors worldwide. In a career spanning nearly 60 years, Moser has produced a body of works consisting of thousands of photographs and photographic assemblages that defy categorization and genre or label assignment.

Additionally, Canadian television is currently in the process of filming a documentary about her life; the second in the last few years, and Moser’s work is now in the collection of many museums worldwide.

A well-known figure in the New York art scene of the 1950s, 1960s, and 1970s,a portrait of Lida Moser by American painter Alice Neel hangs in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum in New York City. Neel painted a total of four Moser portraits over her lifetime, and I believe that one of them will be included in the National Museum of Women in the Arts' "Alice Neel's Women" coming to Washington, DC this October.

Lida Moser's photographic career started as a student and studio assistant in 1947 in Berenice Abbott's studio in New York City, where she became an active member of the New York Photo League. She then worked for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Look and many other magazines throughout the next few decades, and traveled extensively throughout the United States, Canada and Europe.

In 1950 Vogue, and (and subsequently Look magazine) assigned Lida Moser to carry out an illustrated report on Canada, from one ocean to another. When she arrived at the Windsor station in Montreal, in June of that same year, she met by chance, Paul Gouin, then a Cultural Advisor to Duplessis government. This chance meeting led Moser to change her all-Canada assignment for one centered around Quebec.

Armed with her camera and guided by the research done by the Abbot Felix-Antoine Savard, the folklorist Luc Lacourcière and accompanied by Paul Gouin, Lida Moser then discovers and photographs a traditional Quebec, which was still little touched by modern civilization and the coming urbanization of the region. Decades later, a major exhibition of those photographs at the McCord Museum of Canadian History became the museum’s most popular exhibit ever.

She has also authored and been part of many books and publications on and about photography. She also wrote a series of "Camera View" articles on photography for The New York Times between 1974-81. Her work has been exhibited in many museums worldwide and is in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, London, the National Archives, Ottawa, the National Galleries of Scotland, National Portrait Gallery, Washington, DC, the Library of Congress, Les Archives Nationales du Quebec, Corcoran Gallery, Phillips Collection and many others. Moser was an active member of the Photo League and the New York School.

The Photo League was the seminal birth of American documentary photography. It was a group that was at times at school, an association and even a social club. Disbanded in 1951, the League promoted photojournalism with an aesthetic consciousness that reaches street photography to this day.

This will be her first solo exhibition in Washington, DC and it will run from March 18 through April 13, 2005.

An opening reception for Ms. Moser will be held on Friday, March 18, 2005 from 6-9PM as part of the third Friday openings in Georgetown. The reception is free and open to the public.

Feedback

Yesterday we finished our Success as an Artist seminar to about 50 or so artists and arts professionals. Herewith some feedback:

"Thank you so much for an incredible amount of valuable information. Having worked commercially for 25 years, I thought I might hear repetitive things. The fact is, I'm somewhat overwhelmed by the amount I have yet to learn based on your seminar. Thanks for the jump-start in this new segment of the art industry. Look forward to visiting the gallery again." -- Sally Wern Comport

"This seminar was better than a four year college education. I learned more about what I need to do to have a career as an artist here." -- John Bata

"Tremendous amount of information shared that was constructive, practical and well focused. This was the best investment I could make in understanding the wide range of business issues that artists face and gave me lots of ideas regarding successful strategies." -- Judy Bayer

"This seminar more than met my needs. This was like four years of college packed into 7 hours." -- Jonathan

"It was excellent - Very informative, hands-on, action oriented guidance to promote myself as an artist. Fun, fast moving, and spell-binding for me - I wrote 24 pages of notes!" -- Sue Holland

"So much specific, reality-based info, communicated succintly and understandibly. Amazing!" -- Leslie Albin

"Wonderful, exciting, and thoroughly penetrating info!" -- Rochleigh X. Wholfe