Photo by Robert Capa

This week at NYU, the International Center of Photography and the Abraham Lincoln Brigade Archives will present a two-day symposium Committed Journalism, focusing on Robert Capa, Gerda Taro and Chim (David Seymour)’s photo reportage of the Spanish Civil War as well as photojournalism in a broader geographical and historical context.

The conference will kick off with panel discussion Photojournalism: Current Commitments with Pulitzer Prize winning photojournalist Todd Heisler, New York Times Deputy Picture editor Meaghan Looram, Wall Street Journal Photo Editor Julien Jourdes, Photojournalist Julie Platner, MediaStorm founder Brian Storm, Photojournalist Walter Astrada and panel moderator Fred Ritchin of NYU. The Second day of the conference will feature respective panel’s The Mexican Suitcase and The Contents of the Suitcase featuring Curator of ICP exhibit The Mexican Suitcase Cynthia Young, ICP Chief Curator Brian Wallis, NYU’s Arthur L. Carter Journalism Institute’s Susie Linfield, ICP Associate curator Kristen Lubben, curator and scholar Carole Naggar, Oberlin College proffessor Sebastiaan Faber and panel moderators Jo Labanyi and Juan Salas of NYU. The conference will close on the second day with panel Photojournalism for Humanitarian Works featuring Doctor’s Without Border’s Jason Cone, Photojournalist Ashley Gilbertson, Human Rights Watch’s Emma Daly, and photojournalist Moises Saman.

Click here for more information about the Committed Photojournalism Symposium

Comitted Photojournalism
Day one: 6:00pm – 8:30pm December 2nd
Day two: 2:00pm – 8:30pm December 3rd, 2010

NYU
The King Juan Carlos I of Spain Center, NYU
53 Washington Square South, Suite 201
New York, New York

Margaret Horan, November 1, 1935, © Edward Steichen

Exhibition on View:
Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Condé Nast Years, 1923-1937
Friday, January 16–Sunday, May 3, 2009
The International Center of Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street
New York, New York
(212) 857-0000

If you are interested in fashion photography, don’t miss Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Condé Nast Years, 1923-1937 at the International Center of Photography.

This exhibition is the first to showcase the range of Steichen’s fashion work, and it features 175 vintage photographs mainly drawn from an extensive archive of original prints at Condé Nast, as well as a selection of prints from the George Eastman House Museum.

When Steichen, already an established Pictorialist photographer, accepted editorial positions at Vogue and Vanity Fair, his peers in the art community thought he was damaging the hard-fought respectability of their work. Nevertheless, Steichen’s inspired approach to fashion photography revolutionized the field by changing the soft-focus image of the fashionable woman from a distant romantic creature, to that of a much more direct and independent individual.

A selection of affordable limited-edtion prints from Steichen are available from Aperture Foundation.

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 International Center of Photography’s 2009 Year of Fashion, now on view from the Condé Nast archives is Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, The Condé Nast Years, 1923-1937.  The collection features 175 vintage photographs from Steichen’s career and is the first comprehensive look at both his fashion and celebrity portraiture, including many works that have never been exhibited. As chief photographer for Vanity Fair and Vogue, Steichen was met by much criticism from Alfred Steiglitz and followers who claimed his commercial editorial work was detrimental to the fine art field. However, Steichen’s work inarguably marks a shift toward Modernism and revolutionized Fashion Photography. Kick off Fashion Week in New York by checking out never-before-seen work from this world-renown icon.

Click here to buy a Limited-Edition Portfolio of Edward Steichen prints through Aperture.

Edward Steichen: In High Fashion, Condé Nast Years 1923-1937
January 16-May 3, 2009

International Center of Photography
1133 Avenue of the Americas at 43rd Street, New York
(212) 857-0000