Winogrand Looks at the U.S.A.

Photographer Garry Winogrand endured miserable professional failures. When he published a collection of images of women, women were offended and men perplexed. A book of pictures of the zoo was a resounding commercial flop.

“Those who loved zoos were perhaps distressed by the book’s irreverent dark humor, which saw the animals as no more clearly noble than their human visitors,” writes John Szarkowski, who organized the first Winogrand retrospective, a traveling exhibit running Saturday through Aug. 20 at the Museum of Contemporary Art.

Despite the setbacks, Winogrand earned an essential reputation as an important chronicler of American life before he died in 1984.

“He comes out of a tradition of Walker Evans and Robert Frank,” said Connie Wolf, MOCA project director. “He could capture the movements and interactions of a city and of American life.”

More than 200 images from the 1950s to the 1980s make up the “Garry Winogrand” survey, organized by New York’s Museum of Modern Art. It is divided into nine sections representing subject matter ranging from the Eisenhower years to women, to the zoo, to the ‘60s.

“The photographs for the most part are not flattering, they are not beautiful or spectacular portraits, but they capture an essence of America at the time they were produced,” Wolf said. Whether photographing people on the streets of Beverly Hills or New York City, he infused everyday occurances with an element of drama and mystery. “He took the ordinary and made people look at the ordinary in a new way.”

More than a third of a million unfinished exposures were left behind when Winogrand died. Many of these have been processed, and the exhibit features 25 prints and 40 slides from this body of work.

Ten nearly life-size, enlarged contact sheets also included act as a window into Winogrand’s creative process, Wolf said.

“Each (blow up) contains an image in the show. This allows a viewer to look at what Winogrand went through as he photographed America, then selected the one image to print and sign and call his own.”

ART ACTION: Convinced that the government is failing its responsibility in fighting AIDS, Tortue Gallery director Mallory Freeman has organized his second silent bid auction to raise money for the cause.

The event, titled “Every Fourteen Minutes,” doubles as an exhibit and will run at the Santa Monica gallery Saturday through July 8. During that time, bids may be made on painting, sculpture and graphics by more than 165 top Los Angeles artists. Local art dealers and collectors have also donated works.

Freeman, who raised $87,000 with a similar auction in 1987, said recently that he never intended to repeat the effort. “It’s so much work, it’s mind-boggling for a gallery to take on. But the need is greater than it ever was. It is not being filled by the local, state or federal government in any substantial way, and it simply behooves the private sector to do what it can for the greatest pandemic we’ve ever known, certainly in this century.”

All proceeds from the event will benefit three local AIDS service organizations: The Los Angeles Shanti Foundation, Minority AIDS Project and Milagros Project. Freeman included the latter two because, as minority organizations, they have great difficulty raising funds, he said.

Among the artists to be featured are Carlos Almaraz, Don Bacardy, Billy Al Bengston, Sam Francis, Jill Giegerich, Jim Morphesis, Robert Natkin, Jon Swihart and Joyce Treiman.

Many of the auction’s artists have donated first-rate examples of their work, Freeman said.

An opening reception will be held Saturday from 7 to 10 p.m. Admission is a $10 donation payable at the door. A closing reception for final bidding is scheduled for July 8, 5-7 p.m.

Local artists will also donate their works for an auction to raise funds for artist Amy Goldman’s medical expenses. It is scheduled for next Sunday from 2 p.m. to 5 p.m. at USC’s Fisher Art Gallery.

Goldman, former director of art education at USC’s School of Fine Arts, was left paralyzed on one side a year ago by a brain tumor. Her medical costs have been about $15,000 a month, according to auction organizer Judith Marcus.

Artists Craig Antrim, Ruth Weisberg, John Outterbridge, Margit Omar, Judy Baca, Kent Twitchell and Goldman are among those whose works will be on the block.

Admission is a $5 donation, payable at entry. Information: (818) 989-7413.