archive • Russian Archives Online

a nice collection of pictures of yuri gagarin, the first man in space. see more here.


[all from russian archives online]

archive is a column by asha schechter

sympathy for the devil- jean-luc godard

1968

jørgen leth • the perfect human

josef koudelka

see more here. begin to learn more about the events here and here.

[all josef koudelka from the book 'prague 68'. top to bottom: warsaw pact troops invade prague, in front of the radio headquarters. wenceslas square, protesting the warsaw pact troops invasion. invasion by warsaw pact troops.]

warren k. leffler

march on washington for jobs and freedom, august 28, 1963

emil cadoo

emil cadoo was a unique american in paris. more about the late emil can be found here

ralph gibson

ralph gibson is an american photographer - and has made 40 books over the last 40 years or so, more here

jean-luc godard

JLG still going strong after more than 50 years. nobody combines text with photographs better than godard . more here

stan vanderbeek ..... ken knowlton

stan vanderbeek made some very interesting works that integrated photomontage in new ways into film more here. his daughter sara has continued exploring avenues of photomontage in sculpture with her work as well , more here . and his seminal collaboration with ken knowlton poemfield no2 can be found here.

[ from see saw seams : from poemfield no2 : from poemfield no2 ]

kenneth knowlton , leon harmon

while robert irwin and the others of the cool school were playing with light and space out in california (see below) kenneth Knowlton at the bell labs in new jersey was creating works that would have just as long lasting consequences . it was a time when many artists and scientists engaged in collaborations to expand their fields of work and break down some of the walls of their thinking. irwin and james turrell working with ed wortz of the garrett aerospace corporation engaged in a collaboration that profoundly changed the direction of the work of all three men.

ken knowlton engaged in collaborations over the years with people such as leon harmon, stan vanderbeek , lillian schwartz that may have been equally interesting. the optical structure of the computer data used in both the printouts and the films he helped create has helped form the basis of much of todays visual imagery and is the basis of the vocabulary of a great deal of new media art.

knowlton and leon harmon produced the image above of a nude ( studies in Perception I ) in 1966 from a photograph taken by max mathews. and I think it may be the most underrated artwork of the last 100 years. like titian's venus of urbino, giorgione's sleeping venus [dresden venus] , and edouard manet's olympia , knowlton and harmon's nude harnessed the most sophisticated technique and vision of their day to create something pretty unique. you can read more it and about ken here and here.

[image from Ken Knowlton’s EXPLOR program 1969 : 'Studies in Perception I 1966 : kenneth knowlton and leon harmon]

frank J. thomas

a great collection of photographs by frank J. thomas of the los angelas art scene of the 60's . more of frank's work can be found here and here.

[ robert irwin : pat hogan : john coplans , melinda turbel , irving blum ( watching roy lichtenstein sign his billboard ) mel bochner ]

valie export

in 1968 the austrian artist Waltraud Hollinger changed her name to valie export. export was the name of a popular cigarette brand. and in naming herself after a cigarette she seemed to want to light herself on fire with her work to keep up with other rather extreme viennese actionist artist of the time (people like günter brus, otto mühl, herman nitsch, and rudolf schwarzkogler ) who were cutting off limbs and whatnot to escape the bourgeoise or enter the annals of history. with her new name , valie export sought a new identity that was, she says, not bound “by her father’s name (lehner), or her former husband’s name (hollinger).” more here

belgium is happening

no country has shaped my perception of the visual world more than belgium . the artists and artworld from that region have provided a steady stream of beauty , design and pure moody inventiveness that has sunk in deep. when it comes to making things interesting i think the begians are unmatched. these images are from an album called belgium is happening documenting various performance art related pieces.

[ james Lee Byars, a pink silk airplane for 100 (1969) : hugo roelandt, fotowerken 3 (1974) : carlos ginzburg, latin American prostitute (holding a statement by baudelaire) (1974) :

théâtre laboratoire vicinal, tramp 6 (1972) ]

roy lichtenstein

roy lichtenstein's road not taken - its electric , it moves ..... presented by greg.org

[ black and white sunrise, 1964, oil on magna on canvas , electric seascape #1, 1966, rowlux, paper, light, electric motor , littoral, 1965, metalized polyester foil, aluminum and magna , eascape I, 1964, screenprint on rowlux ]

raoul hausmann

"At the time he was living with Heda Mankowicz-Hausmann and Vera Broido in Kaiser-Friedrich-Straße in Charlottenberg. Elfrided Hausmann-Scheffer, Til and I went there often. But I always found it very boring. He was just acting the photographer, and the lover of Vera B, showing off terribly with what he could afford to buy now - the ésprit was all gone." Hannah Höch more here

erwin blumenfeld

nobody made more beautiful or interesting images than the incomparable Erwin Blumenfeld who began as a painter moved through dada and surrealism and into fashion. more here and here

[ Le miroir brisé 1940 . the Dictator 1937 , Four Faces of Manina Paris 1938 , Oty Reijne-Lebeau, Amsterdam 1932]