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Colour Before Color

June 7, 2007- August 17, 2007

Reception: June 20, 6:00 pm - 8:00 pm

Luigi Ghirri, Keld Helmer-Peterson, John Hinde, Peter Mitchell, Carlos Pérez Siquier, Ed van der Elsken

Hasted Hunt

529 W 20th St


Extended through August 17th.

HASTED HUNT is pleased to announce a very special exhibition, COLOUR BEFORE COLOR, curated byMARTIN PARR. The show will be on view from June 7 to July 20, 2007.

For COLOUR BEFORE COLOR, Martin Parr has selected a group of European photographers who were working with color photography in the early 1970’s. These artists were producing work before or contemporaneous with William Eggleston in the US.

The six artists in COLOUR BEFORE COLOR include Luigi Ghirri (Italian, 1943–1920), Keld Helmer-Peterson (Danish, b.1920), John Hinde (British, studio with Edmund Nägele, Elmar Ludwig, David Noble), Peter Mitchell (British), Carlos Pérez Siquier (Spanish, b. 1930), and Ed van der Elsken (Dutch, 1925-1990).

Martin Parr writes:

In the rather dysfunctional history of colour photography, the seminal exhibition by William Eggleston in 1976 at MOMA New York is often cited as the start of serious colour photography. This statement often riles and confuses many people, as colour photography had been around for 90 years. However, previous to Eggleston’s exhibition and book, colour work had predominately been associated with commercial or even snapshot photography. His show gave colour practice the status in the museum world that had previously eluded it.

It is quite significant that the American photography had become so institutionalized as it was this world, especially with the all-powerful John Szarkowski, that fueled the acceptance of colour work. We should also mention the work of Stephen Shore, Joel Sternfeld and Joel Meyerowitz who all contributed to the establishment and acceptance of colour photography in the 70s.

The purpose of the current exhibition is to demonstrate that an equally lively colour photography culture in Europe was operating both before and during the 70s. This work had been largely overlooked as it was not put together as a movement, nor was it promoted by high profile institutions.

The American colorists who became known in the 70s are now enjoying a renaissance, while the European pioneer equivalents remain relatively obscure.

In 1947, KELD HELMER-PETERSEN self published a book entitled 122 Colour Photographs. It was perhaps the first intelligent book featuring only colour photographs and was distinctively Modernist in its look. Helmer-Petersen enjoyed a brief moment of recognition when Life Magazine published a folio. For a short period he taught photography at the Art Institute of Chicago, before returning to his native Denmark to pursue a career as an architectural photographer.

LUIGI GHIRRI, who died in 1992, was perhaps the colour photographer whose work overlapped most with an American sensitivity. A real spirit of adventure propelled this brilliant Italian artist to explore so many ideas well ahead of their time. Aperture will publish a book and mount an exhibition by Ghirri in 2008.

ED VAN DER ELSKEN, the maverick Dutch photojournalist switched effortlessly between colour and black and white without considering the status of colour in the art world for one moment. His long-term project to shoot on the streets of cities produced many iconic colour images.

CARLOS PEREZ SIQUIER, like many colour photographers started his career in black and white and moved to colour in the 1960s. He photographed in his native Almeria, in Spain and finally took to the nearby beach with a medium format camera in the 1970s and produced a remarkable body of work during this decade.

JOHN HINDE was an English photographer who was a pioneer of colour work. He started a hugely successful post card company and in the late 1960s picked up a commission to photograph Butlins holiday camps. By that time he was employing other photographers to continue this and other assignments. The images of the camp interiors are in luscious colour, and are packed with information about dress and décor of this period.

PETER MITCHELL, also an English photographer, had the first landmark colour exhibition in the UK entitled "A New Refutation of Viking 4 Space Mission" at the Impressions Gallery, York in 1979. Mitchell photographed the factories, owners of small shops and other features of Leeds, the city in Yorkshire where he lives .He does this in a very formal style, with the aid of a stepladder. The idea being this is how Leeds may be viewed when the Mission from Mars finally lands on this unsuspecting city.

More than 30 years after these images were produced, the language of colour photography that these photographers have employed is now very familiar. This exhibition gives a unique opportunity to re-assess the short and confused history of recent colour photography by showing the work of European pioneers who have been overlooked and eclipsed by their American counterparts. - Martin Parr, January 2007

In addition to the works on view in the large exhibition, there will be representative works by these artists in the gallery inventory. These are the US debuts for SIQUIER, MITCHELL and the color work by VAN DER ELSKEN.

The Hasted Hunt exhibition will feature contemporary prints commissioned from the original negatives and will include works unfamiliar to the US audience and, in a number of cases, previously unavailable in any form.

MATIN PARR is a well-known Magnum photographer as well as author and curator. He has a large retrospective show on tour in Europe. He co-authored (with Gerry Badger) The History of Photo Book, Vol.1 and Vol. 2 (Phaidon), and served as the Artistic Director for the 2004 Rencontres d'Arles in France where he included the Helmer-Peterson work.

There will be a panel presentation with Mr. Parr and special guests (to be announced) on Wednesday, June 20 from 5 to 6 PM, followed by a reception from 6 to 8 PM. This is the first in a series of exhibitions to be guest curated in the coming months at Hasted Hunt.

Art Reviews of Colour Before Color

New York Times July 20, 2007

Roberta Smith

"The spelling discrepancy in the show’s title is meant to indicate that color photography as we now know it was not exclusively the achievement of Americans like William Eggleston and Stephen Shore, but was also nurtured by a group of European photographers who are insufficiently well known in this country. The show, organized by the British photographer Martin Parr, offers impressive evidence in a variety of distinctly personal styles...."

Books and DVDs related to artists in this show

Location map  Gallery Hasted Hunt Address 529 W 20th St, 3rd floor New York (Chelsea) NY, 10011 United States Phone 212-627-0006 Fax 212-627-5117 Hours Tue-Sat 11-6 Nearby: All 23 galleries at 529 W 20th St

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