January 2014

Bill Cunningham exhibit: Façades

I’m beyond excited to check out the Bill Cunningham exhibit: Façades at The New York Historical Society Museum & Library. Bill can be spotted chronicling stylish New Yorkers for his The New York Times Columns “On the Street” and “Evening Hours”. If you saw the documentary on Bill you know he is talented, humble and full of pathos. You also come to meet his incredible NYC character neighbors from Carnegie Hall before they’re displaced from their artist studios/residences after 60+ years. A stand out character/friend/muse/neighbor of Bill’s was Editta Sherman (also a muse to Andy Warhol). Editta, a photographer and model in her own right collaborated with Cunningham resulting in the Fashion Institute of Technology /Penguin Books 1978 publication of their book Façades, portraying 200 years of fashion and New York City architecture.

“Cunningham’s project also was part of the larger cultural zeitgeist in New York City, during an era in which issues surrounding both the preservation and the problems of the urban landscape loomed large. The photographer donated 88 silver gelatin prints from the series to the New-York Historical Society in 1976, and now, almost four decades later, Cunningham’s work will be reconsidered in a show that will highlight the historical perspective the photographs suggest—not just of the distant past, but of the particular time in which they were created.” – NY Historical Society