Date: Apr 24, 2015 - Jun 6, 2015
Andy Warhol with Brillo Boxes, Stable Gallery, April 21, 1964
FRED W. McDARRAH: THE ARTIST’S WORLD SOLO SHOW OF OVER 100 VINTAGE IMAGES
Public Reception: April 24th, 6 – 8 PM
STEVEN KASHER GALLERY
515 WEST 26TH STREET, 2ND FLOOR
NEW YORK, NY 10001
ON EXHIBIT APRIL 24 TO JUNE 6, 2015
Fred W. McDarrah’s interest in photographing artists can be traced to a 1949 visit toFalmouth, MA, a town on Cape Cod. Through a mutual friend, he was introduced that summer to painter WilliamLittlefield (1902-1969).Littlefield, who came from a wealthy family, had studied in Paris, counted Mrs. John D. Rockefeller among his first patrons and was a window into a worldMcDarrah, who came from poverty and matriculated on the streets of Brooklyn, had never previously seen.
Beginning in the1940s, Littlefield and sculptor Philip Pavia hosted informal gatherings at the The Club, an artist membership association that met at the old Waldorf Cafeteria, at 6th Avenue and 8th Street. Over the years, the Club moved to Broadway, to East 14th Street, to 10th Street and 4th Avenue, to 2nd Avenue, to St. Marks Place, and finally to Mercer Street, not far from its original home. The Club hosted seminars, panels, parties, talks, readings and other events where artists of the day would share and exchange ideas and opinions. The Club and its activities were central to the creation of the Abstract Expressionist movement and The New York School. Many of The Club’s members lived and worked within a few blocks of its doors: Willem deKooning, Franz Kline, Ad Reinhardt, James Brooks, Grace Hartigan, Joan Mitchell, Robert Rauschenberg, Jack Tworkov, Alfred Leslie, Milton Resnick, Lee Krasner, Philip Guston, William Baziotes, Robert Motherwell, Nicholas Krushenick and Adolph Gottlieb.
At Littlefield’s invitation, McDarrah attended events at The Club and eventually became the doorman and keeper of the mailing list, cultivating relationships with many of the member artists. Often, he’d have his camera and unobtrusively document the world of the artists he had become a part of.
On some occasions, a non-artist with a connection to The Club attended an event, such as Jack Kerouac, who did a cameo on the drums at the 1958 New Year’s Eve party.
Sensing the cultural importance of the moment, McDarrah then decided to capture all he could with his camera, which resulted in the seminal 1961 book, The Artist’s World in Pictures (text by Gloria McDarrah, Introduction byThomas B. Hess, EP Dutton, New York 204 pages).
After that, the next generation of artists – including Pop icons Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Claes Oldenburg, Tom Wesselmann, Jm Dine, Jasper Johns, Dan Flavin, John Chamberlain, Frank Stella, Donald Judd, Robert Indiana and James Rosenquist – often sought out McDarrah and coverage in the Village Voice, where McDarrah had a day job as an advertising salesman and was the staff photographer. Warhol would often call McDarrah at home in the early days, hoping he would take his photo and use it in the Voice, one of the few periodicals giving serious early coverage to the Pop genre – and to women artists. McDarrah’s archive also includes classic images of Marisol, Eva Hesse, Yayoi Kusma, Carolee Schneemann, Rosalyn Drexler, Hanna Wilke, Niki de Saint Phalle, Marisol, Faith Ringgold, Alice Neel and Marjorie Strider.
YOKO ONO: ONE WOMAN SHOW, 1960 – 1971 FEATURING NEVER BEFORE SEEN PHOTOS BY FRED W. MCDARRAH (INCLUDING UP TO 28 Yoko Ono IMAGES RECENTLY ACQUIRED BY MoMa for permanent collection) MUSEUM OF MODERN ART
11 WEST 53RD STREET
NEW YORK, NY 10019
ON EXHIBIT MAY 17 TO SEPTEMBER 17, 2015
WARHOL UNDERGROUND FEATURING 25 CLASSIC FRED W. MCDARRAH IMAGES of WARHOL AND THE FACTORY SCENE
CENTRE POMPIDOU-METZ
1 PARVIS DES DROITS DE L’HOMME, 57020. METZ, FRANCE
ON EXHIBIT JULY 1 TO NOVEMBER 23, 2015
CENTREPOMPIDOU-METZ.FR/WARHOL-UNDERGROUND
MILAN TRIENNEL FEATURING RARELY SEEN FRED W. MCDARRAH PHOTOS on the show theme of ARTISTS and FOOD
TRIENNALE DESIGN MUSEUM
VIALE ALEMAGNA, 6, 20121. MILAN, ITALY
ON EXHIBIT APRIL 10 TO NOVEMBER 1, 2015
EXPO2015.ORG/EN/THE-THEMATIC-AREA-OF-ARTS—FOODS-IS-PRESENTED-AT-MILAN-S-TRIENNALE