Updates from The Harold Feinstein studio: Several shows, a book, the film, a new studio, a new home!

It’s been awhile since you’ve heard from me and there are good reasons for that. I sold our house of 17 years and have been doing nothing but pack for weeks now. The closing date is August 30th. A new studio has been built and last weekend saw the final move of studio contents into that wonderful space.

I have been blessed with generous friends and family who have helped me immeasurably through this huge transition and I will be eternally grateful all of them. (Alas, as I am NOT the photographer in the family, I missed the multiple occasion to share the “in progress” photos. But trust me, it’s been herculean, and I will send along photos of the new space in due course.)

However, in addition to the main event of the summer, which has kept me from posting on this blog, many terrific things have been rolling along with Harold’s work and I thought I’d pop out of my bubble long enough to give a quick report on the various happenings.

On August 4th over 900 people attended, Harold Feinstein: A Retrospective at Blue Sky Gallery in Portland, OR. This show represents the first time this historic venue — one of the oldest photography only centers in the U.S. — dedicated its entire 3700 square foot space to one artist.

On August 24th the gallery will host Sean Corcoran, Curator of Prints and Photographs at the Museum for the City of New York and Julia Dolan, Ph.D., the Minor White Curator of Photography at the Portland Art Museum will be in dialogue to “discuss Harold Feinstein’s photographic legacy and contribution to the medium.”

So sorry to be missing that one. But, filmmaker, Andy Dunn, who is now in the final stages of interviewing and editing for the up-coming documentary, will have a crew there to film the event. The documentary will be completed and rolled out in 2017. Keep you posted. If you haven’t yet seen the teaser, you can view it here.

In addition to the historic show, Blue Sky Books has prepared a 130 page monograph, available here, appropriately titled “Saying Yes!”. The book includes an essay by Sean Corcoran.

Some other shows in the past few months have included the inclusion of eight prints at the Arles Photo Festival as part of the Howard Greenberg Gallery‘s exhibition celebrating Sid Grossman’s legacy. Thank you Bob Shamis for sending along some photos of this installation. It is sheer serendipity that I will be near Arles in September and able to catch a view of this exhibition before it comes down at the end of September.

This summer saw a local tribute to Harold marking the one year anniversary of his passing. Two local gallery owners, Greg Nikas of Sweethaven Gallery and Asia Scudder of Blue Wave Gallery, sponsored a Retrospective show and an evening event at The Firehouse Theater, a landmark location on the North Shore. The evening event, entitled Unwrapping the Gift of Life: The work and wisdom of Harold Feinstein, featured special guest, Sarah Kennel, Curator of Photography at the Peabody Essex Museum sharing her reflections on Harold’s life and contribution.

Here’s another slide from her presentation.

It was a truly memorable evening. Many thanks to the local arts community. Joining Sarah were Tony Decaneas of the Decaneas Archive and Elin Spring, author of the award winning blog, What will you remember?

In addition, Harold’s work was included in a summer show from Gallery Fifty One in Antwerp entitled Back Story, which also featured work by Saul Leiter, Leon Levinstein, Louis Faurer and others.

I will be hosting Paris gallery owner, Thierry Bigaignon, of Galerie Thierry Bigaingnon in early October, so that he can select prints for his 2017 Paris show. His premier show with Ralph Gibson was a huge success and I look forward to working with him. Other exciting developments are transpiring and will be announced in coming weeks.

That’s it for my short review. Just wanted people to know I haven’t dropped off the face of the earth… just busy with the demands of packing, moving and starting a whole new chapter for the Harold Feinstein Photography Trust. Stay tuned and enjoy the rest of your summer.