Today is the first Friday of the month, so the Dupont Circle galleries will host their openings and late hours. See you there from 6-8 PM.

Local photographer in next Christie's Photography Auction:

Several vintage photographs by legendary photographer Lida Moser,
represented by us, will be offered at the next Christie's New York auction on Feb. 17, 2004.

In 2002, Moser's photos sold as high as $4,000 at Christie's.

Lida Moser, who currently lives in Rockville, Maryland and is in her late 80s, has a distinguised career that started as a student in 1947 in Berenice Abbott's studio. She then worked for Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Look and many other magazines. She has also authored and been part of many books and publications on and about photography in the New York Times, New York Sunday Times, Amphoto Guide to Special Effects, Fun in Photography, Career Photography, Women See Men, Women of Vision, This Was the Photo League, and others. She also wrote a series of "Camera View" articles on photography for The New York Times between 1974-81.

In 1950 Vogue (and subsequently Look) 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 the Duplessis government. This chance meeting leads the young woman 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.

A portrait of Lida Moser, by Alice Neel, currently hangs in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City. Several portraits of Alice Neel by Lida Moser are in the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery in Washington, DC.

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 Portait Gallery, Washington, DC, the Library of Congress, Les Archives Nationales du Quebec, and many others. Moser was a 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 school, an association, and even a social photography club. Founded in 1936 and disbanded in 1951, the Photo League promoted photojournalism with an aesthetic consciousness and a social conscience that reaches photojournalism and street photography to this day.

Works by Moser can be seen online here. Buy Lida Moser now.

Jessica Dawson reviews Rembrandt etchings on display at St. John's College in Annapolis in her "Galleries" column in the Post today.

And in a rare two-visual-arts-day at the Post, Linton Weeks has a very large review of Winston Churchill photographs at the Library of Congress. Weeks (as far as I know) is not an "art critic" but he does a readable job in mostly describing the exhibition and give us a bit of historical background, which is what most hi-fallutin' art critics would have done anyway.

Woudn't it be nice to see (more often) a couple of different journalists write about the visual arts on the Post's "Galleries" day? All the time...

Of course, today "the galleries" were ignored, as Jessica went out-of-town and Weeks reviewed a museum show.

Maybe next week...

Right...

Grants for artists...
Once of the institutions created after Andy Warhol's undexpected death was Creative Capital.

Each year the award a lot of grants and this year the foundation will award up to 40 grants in the fields of visual arts and film/video. In the spring of 2004, Creative Capital Foundation will accept proposals for its 2004-05 grant cycle supporting work in the visual arts and film/video. Grants for performing arts and emerging fields will be available in 2005.

They have implemented a new application process: to apply for a grant, artists must first submit an Inquiry Form, which will be available February 16, 2004 on the foundation's website . The deadline for completed Inquiry Forms is March 15, 2004; those invited to apply will be notified in June 2004. As in past grant rounds, funded projects will receive approximately $400,000 in initial grants, ranging from $5,000 to $20,000. In addition, grantees are eligible for follow-up support totaling $900,000 to $1 million in the form of advisory services and additional financial assistance.

Address: Creative Capital Foundation, 65 Bleecker St 7th Fl, New York, NY 10012. E-mail: info@creative-capital.org. Tel: 212.598.9900 Fax: 212.598.4934

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DC Commissions on the Arts and Humanities: Small Projects Program.
Deadline: March 4, 04.
The Small Projects Program (SPP) offers grants up to $1,000 to District of Columbia individual artists and arts organizations. The program seeks to make grant funds more accessible for small-scale arts projects. Projects may include but are not limited to: Art presentations, Assistance in fundraising, marketing, and management, Documentation of artistic activities through photography, brochures, portfolios, and demo tapes, Conferences, workshops, or seminars that will enhance artistic and professional development.

Upcoming deadlines for Small Projects Program applications is Thursday, March 4, 2004, 6:00 pm. Workshops to help artists fill out applications will be held on the following dates: Thursday, February 26, 2004, 12:00 - 1:00 pm.

The SPP workshop will be held at the Commission's office at 410 8th St., NW, Fifth Floor, Washington, DC 20004. Download the FY2003 Small Projects Program Guidelines and Application here. For more information on the Small Projects Program or to receive an application in the mail, please call Lionell Thomas at (202) 724-5613.

Cuban art and artists are superhot right now, and we'll have an avalanche of Cuban shows this year in DC. More on that later...

How to make them even hotter?

Answer: Eliminate or reduce access to their artwork.

Read the Art & Antiques magazine article "Crackdown ends U.S. Collecting Trips to Cuba."

Opportunities for artists:

Deadline: February 15, 2004
CURRENT WORK 2004: A NATIONAL COMPETITION. Open to all artists 18 and over. 2- Dimensional media only. Exhibition dates: March 19 - April, 2004, $25 entry fee for three slides, $1,200 in awards. Deadline for slides is February 15. To receive a prospectus, send a SASE to:
Rosenthal Gallery
Fayetteville State University
Fayetteville NC 28301.

Or visit the website to enter online or to review the prospectus or email smartin@uncfsu.edu

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Deadline: February 20, 2004
The Tulane Review is looking for submissions of artwork in any medium for the Spring 2004 issue. Slides, please label orientation, or CDs of work should be mailed to:

Tulane Review
Department of Art
Tulane University
New Orleans, LA 70118.

Enclose a SASE for return of submissions. Please include a cover letter with media, dimensions, and titles of pieces, as well as a bio. The submission fee is $15 per 4 pieces and $2 each additional. A $100 prize to be awarded to the single best piece selected by qualified judge. Direct any questions to mroche@tulane.edu, or call (318)572-4374.

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Deadline: February 21, 2004
National Juried Small Works Exhibition at Red Dot Fine Art. The gallery is located on historic Canyon Road in Santa Fe, NM and is one of the cities' 250 galleries. Open to all individuals with two dimensional paintings in any medium and style with a size not to exceed 16" x 16". EXHIBITION DATES: April 1st to April 25th 2004. FEE: $30 for 1-3 images (slides or JPEG 300 dpi) $5 for each additional image submitted. FOR APPLICATION: Visit their website or contact smallworks@reddotfineart.com or send SASE to:
Red Dot Fine Art
Att: Small Works
8 Tapia Entrada
Santa Fe NM 87508

I'm quoted in the current issue of Art & Antiques Magazine on a piece focused on Cuban art.