Herman Leonard
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"Billie Holiday, New York, 1954".
Signed Herman Leonard and dated -88. Gelatin silver print, image 27 x 24 cm. Printed circa 1988 preparing Leonards debut show at Special Photographers Company, London.
Provenance
Special Photographers Company, London. Acquired by the current owner in 1988.
Exhibitions
Special Photographers Company, London, 1988.
More information
Det här fotografiet tillhör Herman Leonards allra första upplaga och är således inte numrerad. Det togs fram till hans debututställning på The Photographers Gallery i London 1988 där den också köptes in av nuvarande ägare. Ett annat tecken på dess raritet är titelns placering, det var just i början av sin karriär som Leonard för hand skrev motivets titel i mitten av bladet, på senare år flyttades den längre ut mot vänsterkanten. Det ikoniska och stämningsfulla motivet är bara en av flera fantastiska bilder som Herman Leonard genom åren tog av jazzens stora stjärnor.
"This is the image I have in my mind: Herman Leonard, 65 years old, bowed and partly beaten, his marriage over, his 9 year old son and 14 year old daughter in tow, carrying a suitcase across a street in London's Ladbroke Grove. If this were a Harry Potter movie the suitcase would be a talisman, with a slight animation to make it glow, dimly.
Inside the suitcase (to be stuffed under the bed in a temporary flat) are hundreds of 4x5 and 120 mm negatives, critical moments from the past of American Jazz.
Lost -- and uncertain how to proceed -- he attempts to interest galleries in his work. None are. Until finally in the summer of 1988 The Special Photographers Company in London decides to give him a chance. In one month 10,000 people attend."
Ethan Russell, Ur artikeln "Music, Words, & Photography: Herman Leonard's Jazz", Huffington Post 2011.