Who Owns What - Diane Arbus

I have been reading the new Diane Arbus bio by Arthur Lubow. If you want a detailed review of the book check out this New Yorker review. This is my own attempt at grappling with who owns and artist's work.  I have more questions than answers, but this bio brought that issue to the forefront.

What is weird about this bio is the lack of photographs.  The Arbus Estate refused to allow any photos. It is not that Ecco refused to pay for photos, nor did they want to use them without attribution.  I think this is weird.  I will grant you that I would not want someone digging into my life, tracking down folks I wrote letters to years ago, talking to medical professionals, or anyone else. 

Arbus became wildly famous after she died. The family didn't seem to worry about that fame when they were making money.  More importantly, Arbus' work has become a visual iconography of America.  Her still photos are referenced in movies and in print, she is linked to her photographs like a Robert Mapplethorpe, one sees the image and sees Arbus. 

Don't get me wrong, I think people have the right to get paid for their work, I'm not trying to argue that issue, I just wonder what the point is to placing a strangle hold on an estate.  Just think where Shakespeare would be today if a lawyer controlled his estate?  We are still watching his plays because directors are allowed to transform plays from the 1500's and make them relevant in every age. 

We all know Mickey Mouse, he is a part of our life, but recently a daycare center was served with an injunction from Disney because they had a freehand painting of Mickey on the wall.  Really?  Warhol paints Barbie and to use the image one needs permission from both Warhol and Mattel. 

I am sure the Arbus family didn't want the world to know that Diane and her brother, Howard, had a sexual relationship for years, but blocking photos didn't stop that.  Diane Arbus would get naked to photograph nudists, she liked the underbelly of life, so it is hard to think that she would withhold her images for a biography about her life.

Famous Food Friday -- Imogen Cunningham & More

Ansel Adams, Still Life, San Francisco, 1932

Today's venture with Cookbook Of The Day, is the old, but new The Photographer's Cookbook.  Old because the book's inception took place in 1977 when a bored worker at the George Eastman Museum, Deborah Barsel, decided to ask photographers to contribute recipes.

Before completing the book, Barsel left and over thirty-five years later, Lisa Hostetler pulled a box labeled "Photo Cookbook" off a shelf and found a treasure trove.  After some judicious editing, The Photographer's Cookbook is now in the world.

We love "artist" cookbooks and they are one of the reasons Famous Food Fridays came about. Now photographer's have their own cookbook.  As with many a "famous" cookbook, the range of recipes can be daunting.

John Gossage sent a postcard from Conrad's Colonial Steak House & Cocktail Lounge stating, "I eat out."

Contrast that sentiment to Beaumont Newhall.  Newhall was not only the first director of the Eastman Museum, he also  wrote a cooking column for a newspaper in the Rochester suburbs.  The "Epicure Corner" ran for nearly 15 years in the 1950's and 60's.  His choucroute  garnie was featured at a luncheon for James Beard and is featured in the cookbook.

Beaumont Newhall, Edward Weston's Kitchen, 1940

Imogen Cunningham offers up an unusual recipe for borscht.  We would love to see an entire cookbook where all the recipes were "storyfied" like this one.

Imogen Cunningham, My Kitchen Sink, 1947

Imogen Cunningham's Borscht

For one thing I do not consider Alice B. Toklas a GREAT cook.  Very likely her cooking contributed to the death of Gertrude and herself. Besides her beef stew cooked in burgundy, I can think only of her beautiful soups beginning with gazpacho from everywhere. I do not know how to put it, but exotic eatery is very interesting to me. I think we are all TOO addicted to salt and that we can get enough in vegetables that offer it.  We do not know the flavor of anything because we doctor it too much.  While I am on soups, I should tell you what I do for borscht.  I make a good soup of beef and meat and bones; put some fresh beets in, and when I am ready to serve it, I make it half mine and half Manischewitz (commercial bottle of borscht). I prefer it cold with sour cream.

Filled with funky recipes and great photography, we are so glad that this box of recipes got pulled off the shelf.

Lisa Elmaleh Photography

Jim's Porch, West Virginia, 2013

We have been seeing a lot of Lisa Elmaleh's photographs lately.  That's a good thing. 

In the age of selfies, pixels, and intagram, Elmaleh has gone all 1800's on her photography. She produces her images with a wet-plate colloidan process that was used in the mid 19th century.  Instead of film, a piece of glass is covered with a sticky layer of toxic chemicals.  The sticky glass plate is placed in a camera and when exposed, the glass becomes the negative.

It is the same photographic process used by Mathew Brady during the Civil War.  Elmaleh has outfitted her truck with a portable darkroom and has taken it on the road.  Our favorite collection of photographs is from a series called American Folk, portraits of folk musicians in Appalachia.

Hogslop String Band. Harpeth River, TN, 2010.

In the last few month's Elmaleh's work has been featured in several major publications and shows are popping up around the country.  You can keep up with the news at her site, Lisa Elmaleh Photography.  Give it a look, you won't be disappointed.

Ralph Roberts, West Virginia, 2012