Guy Gillette (photographer)

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For the United States senator, see Guy Gillette.

Guy Gillette
Born(1922-10-22)October 22, 1922
Minneapolis, US
DiedAugust 19, 2013(2013-08-19) (aged 90)
New York City
NationalityAmerican
Educationautodidact
Known forPhotography
Spouse
Doris Porter Gillette
​
​
(m. 1942; died 2012)​

Guy Gillette (October 22, 1922 – August 19, 2013) was an American 20th century photojournalist.

Early life[edit]

Gillette was born in Minneapolis, and his youthful years were peripatetic because of his father's occupation. Initially he studied acting under Michael Chekhov, a Russian-American theatre practitioner and was in several Broadway plays. Drafted in 1942, but not in action in World War 2, he later photographed for the Red Cross for three months at the front during the Korean War, achieving the Missouri School of Journalism award for best picture story for the work. He documented the Civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in the 1960s.[1]

While working at a restaurant in New York City, Gillette met Doris Porter, a fashion design student of Lovelady, daughter of V. H. "Hoyt" and Lucy Porter. He took photographs in the 1940s at the Porter Place, the ranch his future in-laws owned near Crockett in East Texas, documenting cattle farming, the family, and small-town life.[2] The pictures provided Gillette with an entree into journalism and he continued to photograph at the ranch throughout his career.[3][4]

His first work was published in 1947 in trade journals, including Sales Management, before being included in more prestigious publications The New York Times and magazines including Fortune,[5] Life,[6][7][8][9] Look, Theater Arts,[10] Dance Magazine,[11] Harper's Bazaar and Collier's. He was a contestant in LIFE's 1951 photo contest, in which he won an Honorable Mention.[6]

Edward Steichen included his image of a father and two sons sitting at the counter in Arnold's Café, Lovelady, Texas in the Museum of Modern Art's world-touring 1955 exhibition, The Family of Man which was seen by 10 million visitors.[12]

In 1957, Jacob Deschin, camera editor of The New York Times, remarked that Gillette's "pictures were made with conviction. He photographed an important event rich in dramatic sidelights on every hand, including that most important of all elements in the photographer's attitude—personal involvement in the photographic experience itself."[13] From editorial work he moved later in life to commercial photography.[14][15]

Portraits[edit]

In the course of his magazine photography Gillette photographed Elvis Presley, Audrey Hepburn, Elizabeth II, Dwight D. Eisenhower, Agnes de Mille, Lillian and Dorothy Gish, Sarah Vaughan, Johnny Cash,[16] Jacqueline Susann, Marian Anderson, Henri Cartier-Bresson and Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis.

Death and legacy[edit]

Gillette died aged 90 on August 19, 2013, predeceased the year before by his wife of 70 years, Doris (née Porter), and survived by his sons Guy and Pipp. He saw an advance copy of the book, A Family of the Land: The Texas Photography of Guy Gillette,[17] published through the University of Oklahoma Press, but died before its publication. Gillette's photographs continue to be published.[18][19]

Exhibitions[edit]

  • 1955, January 24 – May 8: The Family of Man. The Museum of Modern Art, New York[20]
  • 2006: Guy Gillette. Hudson River Museum[21]
  • 2010, January: On the Town. Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico[22]
  • 2016, July 1 – September 18: The American Family Album: Wanderlust and encounters of the American family in pictures. Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico[23]
  • June 17, 2022 – September 3, 2023: Order/ Reorder: Experiments with Collections. Hudson River Museum

Collections[edit]

  • The Museum of Modern Art, New York[20]
  • Hudson River Museum[24]
  • Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico[25]
  • Holden Luntz Gallery[26]

References[edit]

  1. ^ "The Photographer". The View from Here : The artists of A Realist View and their art 50 years later.
  2. ^ Pasierowska, Rachael L. (November 2014). "A Family of the Land: The Texas Photography of Guy Gillette". Journal of Southern History. 80 (4): 1042.
  3. ^ Gillette, Guy (March 13, 1955). "Photo story". The Spokesman-Review. p. 124.
  4. ^ "The Day "Old Rough" Got Hurt". The Salt Lake Tribune. March 30, 1952. p. 109.
  5. ^ "Pictures by". Fortune. 95: 150, 274–6. April 1977.
  6. ^ a b "Encounters with Strangers". LIFE. Vol. 69, no. 26. December 25, 1970. p. 45. ISSN 0024-3019.
  7. ^ Gillette, Guy (August 8, 1957). "Speaking Of Pictures : Patches As a Plaything". LIFE. Vol. 43, no. 8. pp. 8–9.
  8. ^ Gillette, Guy (March 28, 1960). "A Non Belles-Lettres Fad". LIFE. Vol. 48, no. 12. pp. 73–4.
  9. ^ "Modern Living : Air Conditioning". LIFE. Vol. 39, no. 6. Time Inc. August 8, 1955. p. 74. ISSN 0024-3019.
  10. ^ "The Enchanted". Theatre Arts. 34 (10): 57, 60, 64, 73, 75, 76, 82, 88. October 1950.
  11. ^ Kane, Robert S; Gillette, Guy (photographer) (October 1953). "Billy the Kid at P.S. 4". Dance Magazine. United States: Rudor Publishing Company.
  12. ^ Steichen, Edward; Sandburg, Carl; Norman, Dorothy; Lionni, Leo; Mason, Jerry; Stoller, Ezra (1955). The family of man : the photographic exhibition. New York: Museum of Modern Art, Simon and Schuster, with Maco Magazine Corporation. OCLC 1320804044.
  13. ^ Bland, Bartholomew F.; Hudson River Museum (2006). Guy Gillette: Photographs. September 30, 2006– January 7, 2007. Hudson River Museum.
  14. ^ "caption". Communication Arts. 19 (6). Coyne & Blanchard: 30. January–February 1978.
  15. ^ Barron, Don (1981). Creativity 10 : a photographic review. New York: Art Direction Book Company. p. 124. ISBN 0-910158-77-0.
  16. ^ LIFE : Johnny Cash : An American Legend, 15 Years Later (ebook ed.). United Kingdom: TI Incorporated Books. 2018. pp. unpaginated. ISBN 9781547844579.
  17. ^ Wilkinson, Andy (2013). A family of the land: the Texas photography of Guy Gillette. ISBN 978-0-8061-4404-7. OCLC 832706135.
  18. ^ Smeyers, Paul; Bridges, David; Burbules, Nicholas C.; Griffiths, Morwenna, eds. (2015). International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research. Netherlands: Springer. p. 1021. ISBN 978-94-017-9282-0. OCLC 1203988157.
  19. ^ Newton, Matthew (2017). shopping mall. Bloomsbury Academic. doi:10.5040/9781501314841. ISBN 978-1-5013-1482-7.
  20. ^ a b "Guy Gillette | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  21. ^ "Exhibitions". The Journal News. September 17, 2006. p. 52.
  22. ^ "ON THE TOWN EXHIBITION REVIEW – 2010-01-22 – Press – News". www.monroegallery.com. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  23. ^ "EXHIBITION: THE AMERICAN FAMILY ALBUM – 2016-07-01 – Press – News". www.monroegallery.com. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  24. ^ "2007.08.02". Hudson River Museum. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  25. ^ "Artists – Guy Gillette". www.monroegallery.com. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
  26. ^ "Guy Gillette Archives". Holden Luntz Gallery. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
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