5/20/98
Editors, news directors: The Herman Leonard exhibit opens
Thursday, May 21. Ohio University photos of Herman Leonard
and his work may be downloaded from the Web at: http://www.ohiou.edu/news/pix/LEONARD2.JPG (a headshot of
Leonard)
http://www.ohiou.edu/news/pix/LEONARD.JPG (Leonard with his
photographs of Dexter Gordon and Miles Davis during a 1993 visit
to Ohio University).
ATHENS, Ohio -- Photographer Herman Leonard's world renowned images of jazz greats Louis Armstrong, Ella Fitzgerald, Wynton Marsalis, Billie Holiday and more -- 62 photos in all -- make up an exhibit that runs through Aug. 16 at Ohio University's Kennedy Museum of Art.
The black-and-white images, featured in two galleries, are part of the museum's permanent collection. Leonard graduated from Ohio University in 1947 with a bachelor of fine arts degree and donated the photographs to his alma mater in 1993.
The museum at The Ridges is open from noon to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, noon to 8 p.m. Thursday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday and Sunday.
Leonard has photographed all of jazz music's top names. His photos -- many shot in the smoky nightclubs of New York during the height of the bebop era -- are part of the Smithsonian Institution's permanent collection.
"Unquestionably, your work deserves to be preserved in the Smithsonian Institution along with other national treasures such as Duke Ellington's musical manuscripts, Dizzy Gillespie's trumpet and Stradivarius' violins," Smithsonian officials wrote when they contacted Leonard in 1990.
Leonard was the subject of a half-hour documentary, "Frame After Frame: The Images of Herman Leonard," that aired nationally on PBS stations in April. Tony Bennett, a friend of Leonard's, was the narrator.
In 1996, President Clinton gave a collection of Leonard's photographs to the king of Thailand, an avid jazz musician, as an official gift from the United States.
"This jazz photography exhibit allows members of the public to bring their memories of the great American jazz musicians to life," said Vice President for University Relations Adrie Nab. "Looking at the emotions and expressions on the performers' faces, one will hear the music and taste the passion of those great American artists."
In conjunction with the Leonard exhibit, the Kennedy Museum is conducting a three-week summer workshop -- titled "Summer 1998!" -- for students entering fourth through sixth grades. The workshop, which runs from July 20 through Aug. 7, is partially funded by the Ohio Arts Council's Arts in Education program and Friends of the Kennedy Museum.
The youngsters will work with artists in residence Rob Gartzka, Kathie Johnson and Patty Mitchell to examine the connection between looking at and creating art. The work of Leonard, who will visit with workshop participants on July 23, will be used as initial inspiration for the sessions. More information on the workshops is available by calling Sally Delgado at 593-1304 or 593-0953.
Photographs by Leonard and fellow jazz photographers William Gottlieb and Bill Claxton will be shown during a worldwide tour planned by Ohio University later this year, Nab said. The collection of more than 90 prints is currently on exhibit in Germany.
"Between the three of them, they have covered the entire history of American jazz pictorially from the 1930s on," said Nab, who has arranged for Leonard, Gottlieb and Claxton to attend the invitation-only Summer Serenade sponsored by University Relations on July 24.
