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| Scene of the Crime May 26 - July 8, 2000 |
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| DALLAS -- A shocking exhibition of crime photographs will be unveiled at Photographs Do Not Bend Gallery this summer. This diverse collection of 19th and 20th Century photographs will intrigue Dallas viewers with factual details of crime scenes and criminals throughout the history of photography. Part of this rare exhibition will include turn-of-the-century mug shots and other anonymous work. In the 19th century Alphonse Bertillon developed the photographic system (mug shot) of identifying criminals. An uncontaminated ID of the criminal was made by photographing a front and side view of the head against a neutral background, both images appearing on a single card. In the 1935 book, Science Versus Crime, Bertillon "was obliged to set aside all esthetic and fashionable considerations governing both the commercial camera and the cabinet-portraitist of the period." Photographs by the famous, WEEGEE, who was known to be at the scene of the crime before the police showed up in the Naked City (New York) will be featured. The well known image by Manuel Alvarez Bravo of the, assassinated striking worker from 1934 and Edward Weston's image of the dead body he discovered while walking through the desert are also included. Two portraits of mobster Albert Anastasia of the notorious, Murder, Inc. will be exhibited along with a rather macabre image of a woman who has committed suicide by hanging (a crime). The image of a man sitting next to a New York City Cop states that he burned his mother-in-law to death by pouring gasoline on her in front of his children. This 1926 photograph is used for the announcement of the exhibition, with cropping marks revealed for newspaper publishing. Current New York Daily News photographer Andrew Sevulich will be prominently featured in this exhibition. This contemporary Weegee has captured shocking and somewhat funny scenes from the seedy underbelly of New York City. A woman shot by a roof top sniper lies dead on the sidewalk with a cop in the background holding an "I Love New York" bag. Another image shows a doorman cleaning up the blood that remains on a sidewalk after a suicide jump. A slightly humorous image of a man pulling his pants down for policeman to observe where he was shot in the rear while sleeping on a park bench illustrates the often entertaining, less morbid element of crime photography. Some gallery artists will be included in this exhibition: Shelby Lee Adams, Jeffrey Silverthorne, and Delilah Montoya. Jill Freedman's photographs from her book, Street Cops, published in 1981 will be part of this crime show. Her intimate photo essay of New York street cops from the Ninth and Midtown South Precincts portrayed a gritty but respectful view of life as a cop. Freedman has become an icon of documentary photography in the latter half of the 20th century. Freedman has several books published of her work including Firehouse, Circus Days, and Old News: Resurrection City. A local Dallas photographer/filmmaker, Jim Murray, will be represented with his widely published photograph of Lee Harvey Oswald at City Hall after he was arrested for the assassination of President Kennedy. |
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That Leaves Over 100 People Homeless Andrew Sevulich |
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