Notes from the field

Afterimage, May-June, 2003 by Betsy Phillips, Genevieve Waller

CEPA Gallery, Buffalo, NY, receives a $10,000 gift from an anonymous NYC Foundation, along with a two-year $60,000 grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts. The anonymous, unrestricted, $10,000 gift was in response to the severe and unprecedented funding cuts by the City of Buffalo and the effect that this had on CEPA Gallery. A trustee of the foundation noted that "CEPA Gallery is far too important an institution to the national art world for us to stand by and watch you suffer." She went on to say "The spirit of the arts has never been more important as an alternative to the conflicts and violence which are so prevalent in this increasingly dangerous time. CEPA Gallery has been and continues to be a place that focuses on artists and art that presents alternative voices." In addition to the anonymous gift, CEPA has also been awarded a two-year grant from the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts for exhibition programming. The award comes at a crucial time as CEPA is in the process of implementing a strategic plan developed using the highly coveted Warhol Initiative grant, received by CEPA in 2000. CEPA is a not-for-profit art center dedicated to promoting photo-related and electronic arts. CEPA offers programs in the visual arts, artist residencies, and education. For more info visit www.cepa@aol.com

The Museum of Modern Art announces chief curatorial appointments. John Elderfield succeeds Kirk Varnedoe as Chief Curator, Department of Paintings and Sculpture at MOMA, and Kynaston McShine has been appointed Chief Curator at Large. Both have extensive histories with the institution. Mr. Enfield has been the Museum's Chief curator at Large since 1993 and has served in other capacities as well. Mr. McShine served as Senior Curator of the Department of Painting and Sculpture from 1980 until 2001, when he took over as Acting Chief Curator of the Department. These are the first of a series of important curatorial appointments to be made as the museum prepares for the opening of its new building in 2005.

Swann Auction Galleries report record prices for a number of titles at their December 5, 2002 auction. A rare copy of Some of the Account of the Art of the Photogenic Drawing, London, 1839, by William Henry Talbot, the earliest separate publication on photography, brought $39,100 at the auction. $4600 was paid for a scarce copy of Exhibition of Photographs at the Camera Club, New York, 1899, a catologue commemorating Alfred Stieglitz's first solo show. Camera Work 42/43. New York, 1913, in the original mailing box, went for $9200. A Group of 64 stereo views from the 1870-80's of Yellowstone, North Dakota, Montana, and Native Americans, sold for $18,400. Steiglitz's warm-toned silver print, Georgia O'Keefe and Frank Prosser, Lake George, 1931, brought $3,910, and Bernice's Abbott's New York at Night, silver print, 1932, printed 1960's, sold for $6670.

The Ransom Center of the University of Texas at Austin announces the publication in late 2003 of Avedon at Work, a collection of photographs and journal entries by Laura Wilson of Dallas, TX. Wilson accompanied Richard Avedon as his assistant during his 1980's commissioned project to photograph the American West. Avedon's resulting book, In The American West, became one of the most famous photographic books of the century. Wilson's images and journal entries lend insight into the methods of this master photographer and how this significant work was produced.