Helen Levitt, who is credited as a pioneer in “street photography,” died Sunday at the age of 95 in her apartment in New York City.  Her legacy in the field of photography includes exhibitions at major institutions such as the Museum of Modern Art, numerous publications, and work in documentary films. In 1997, she received a Master of Photography Award from the International Center of Photography. Levitt’s work has made an indelible mark in the history of photography and will undoubtedly continue to inspire.

View the New York Times article and accompanying images here.

As part of Memorial del 68, Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico presents Invasion 68 Prague, an exhibition of Josef Koudelka‘s remarkable work made during that one historic week in August 1968. In the midst of the turmoil of the Soviet-led invasion, which ended the short-lived political freedom in Czechoslovakia that came to be known as the Prague Spring, Koudelka took to the streets to document this critical moment. His powerful photographs reached Magnum Photos in New York and earned the still-anonymous photographer the Robert Capa Award. This successful exhibition, coproduced by Aperture and Magnum Photos, has traveled to New York and Washington, D.C., before arriving in Mexico. Many of the images featured in large-scale prints and grids have never been seen before; compelling texts by Czech historians complete the exhibition. All images and texts are taken from Koudelka’s stunning Aperture monograph of the same name, which includes 250 photographs chosen by the artist from his archive.

Exhibition on view:
Wednesday, April 1, 2009 –Friday, July 31, 2009

Invasion 68 Prague
Universidad Nacional Autonoma de Mexico,
Centro Cultural Universitario Tlatelolco, Memorial del 68
Ricardo Flores Magon No.1
Col. Nonoalco Tlatelolco
Mexico City, Mexico
(+52) 55 83 09 60

Click here to buy your copy of Josef Koudelka’s monograph Invasion 68: Prague through Aperture.

Monday night, West-Coast based photographer Katy Grannan will be speaking at Aperture Gallery in the latest edition of an ongoing lecture series from Parsons The New School for Design. Grannan works predominantly in portraiture and strives to embody the subject’s personality, usually allowing him or her choice in wardrobe and pose. The artist’s first monograph, Model American, was published by Aperture in 2005. Her work is also included in the group exhibition Into the Sunset: Photography’s Image of the American West at the Museum of Modern Art, New York.

Monday, March 30, 2009
6:30 pm

FREE

Aperture Gallery
547 West 27th Street
New York, New York
(212) 505-5555

Click here to buy your copy of Model American through Aperture.

Tonight, join Mike Mills, D.A.P and Damiani at The Strand Bookstore as they celebrate the artist’s newest monograph. Tim Barber of Tiny Vices, will be in conversation with Mike Mills, who will be on hand to sign copies of his latest publication.

Mike Mills
Friday, March 27, 2009 7 pm
The Strand Bookstore
828 Broadway at 12th Street, New York
(212) 473-1452

Starting today is the AIPAD Photography Show New York at the Park Avenue Armory. Over seventy world-renowned fine art photography galleries will display museum quality work at what is now the longest running exhibition of fine art photography. Coinciding with AIPAD’s thirtieth anniversary, an “exhibition within an exhibition” titled Innovation will span the history of the medium from daguerreotypes to new media. Additionally, the Center for the Legacy of Photography will showcase vintage photographic prints from George Eastman House’s collection.

Saturday, March 28 features a full day of panel discussions with critic and curator Vince Aletti and photographer Bruce Davidson, among other distinguished leaders in the field. Click here to view a full schedule of events.

Aperture Foundation is a proud media sponsor of the 2009 AIPAD Photography Show New York.

The AIPAD Photography Show New York
Friday, March 26—Sunday, March 29, 2009
Park Avenue Armory
643 Park Avenue, New York
(212) 616-3930

Image © Tyler Roberts

The 46th annual Society of Photographic Education National Conference will be held March 26-29, 2009 in Dallas, Texas. The host city provides an informative and imaginative backdrop of this year’s theme of SPRAWL. Like other metropolitan areas since the 1960s, Dallas has seen suburban sprawl reshape its civic geography and identity. But the concept of sprawl also prompts discussions of environmental conservation, the appropriate use of land and resources, the loss and/or renewal of city centers and close-knit neighborhood communities.

Visit Aperture at SPE at booth 9, for a selection of award-winning books plus a special discount offer from Aperture magazine.

Exhibit hall open to the public:
Friday, March 27, 8:00 am – 4:00 pm
Saturday, March 28, 9:30 am – 4:30 pm

Fairmont Dallas Hotel
Dallas, Texas

FREE

Meet photographer Barbara Crane at Aperture’s booth where she will be signing her newly released monograph Private Views.

Friday, March 27, 2:00–3:00 pm

FREE

Now you can be up-to-date with the latest news and happenings from Aperture by following us on Twitter. Check out www.twitter.com/aperturefnd for the inside scoop on the gallery, magazine, books, artists, blog, new limited-edition photographs and much more!

The third annual Look3 Festival of the Photograph, which celebrates photography with gallery shows, workshops, interviews with legendary photographers, and special outdoor exhibitions, will be held in historic downtown Charlottesville, VA, June 11-13, 2009.

The featured photographers for 2009 are: Martin Parr, Gilles Peress, and Sylvia Plachy.

LOOK3 also hosts workshops and project critique sessions for photographers of all skill levels. And this year, there are 10 Student Workshop Scholarships available to undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in 2-4 year accredited programs. Deadline to apply is May 1, 2009.

See Martin Parr’s Aperture publications here.

See Gilles Peress’s Aperture publications here.

See Sylvia Plachy’s Aperture publications here.

Last week, Hank Willis Thomas met with the Aperture interns and gave them a special tour of his exhibition Pitch Blackness at Jack Shainman Gallery. Hank spoke about his newest works since publishing his first monograph, Pitch Blackness, both of which address complex questions about identity and race in America through diverse mediums. The interns engaged with the show and were invited to view the private part of the gallery housing the artist’s portrait of President Obama, Breakfast of Champion. The work was made in collaboration with Ryan Alexiev, and was recently sold at the Armory Show.

We are currently receiving applications for the July-December 2009 Internship session so check out details on our website here. Young graduates from the United States and around the world can apply for an exciting and thorough experience in the editing, design, production, circulation, sales, and marketing of photography’s most significant publications; the development of major traveling exhibitions; the creation of web content; and all other business operations essential to a non-profit organization. The closing deadline to submit your application is April 1!

Legendary photographer Pirkle Jones died on Sunday, March 15 at the age of 95. Noted for his documentation of the people and changing landscape of Northern California and his controversial series on the Black Panther Party, he was part of the first class of photographers to enter California School of Fine Arts after WWII. There, he studied with Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, and Minor White, all who later went on to help establish Aperture magazine in 1952.

Death of a Valley, a collaboration between Jones and Dorothea Lange which chronicled the disappearance of the Berryessa Valley in California as a result of the Monticello Dam, was published as a single issue of Aperture magazine in 1960. Jones later described the project as “one of the most meaningful photographic experiences of my professional life.”

In 2001, Aperture published Pirkle Jones: California Photographs. Featuring his portraits, landscapes, and architectural photographs, Jones documented everything from flea-market finds to some of the most important American social movements of the twentieth century. The same year, the Santa Barbara Museum of Art hosted the companion exhibition, Pirkle Jones: Sixty Years of Photographs.

Tim B. Wride, curator of the exhibition and author of the book essay, wrote:
“Pirkle’s visual legacy is one that can be characterized as masterful, meaningful, and ethical. His talent was singular, prodigious, and honorable. His eyes beheld an abundance of beauty, wisdom, curiosity, and commitment. His heart was open, enfolding, and comforting. A gift. “

Aperture also remembers Jones’s generosity of donating prints to the foundation to help raise funds. His dedication, vision, and love of the craft will be missed. For more information on his life and work, click here.