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Los
Angeles, CA - Son of renowned Californian photographer Imogen
Cunningham. Apprentice to Ansel Adams. Protégé of Dorothea
Lange. Who is Rondal Partridge, and what’s he been up
to for 85 years?
California
photographer Rondal Partridge will celebrate the publication
of his first book, Quizzical Eye: The Photography of
Rondal Partridge, by Sally Stein and Elizabeth Partridge
(California Historical Society Press & Heyday Books, Jan.
2003) with three exhibitions of his work scheduled to run
concurrently in the Golden State.
In Los
Angeles, Partridge’s photography will be on display at the
Michael Dawson Gallery beginning with an opening reception
on Friday, January 24, 2003 from 7:00-9:00 pm and running
through Saturday, March 29. Michael Dawson Gallery is located
at 535 N. Larchmont Blvd., Los Angeles, 90004. This will mark
the only Southern California exhibition, along with two
Northern California events at the Oakland Museum of California
and the California Historical Society in San Francisco. The
exhibition at Michael Dawson Gallery will focus on Partridge’s
gift for portraiture as well as his ongoing fascination with
the profound transformation of the California landscape from
the 1930’s to the present day. Of the three exhibition sites,
Michael Dawson Gallery is the only location where prints will
be available for purchase.
Beginning
as a darkroom assistant to his mother (Imogen Cunningham) at
the age of five, eventually moving on to assist both Ansel
Adams and Dorothea Lange in the 1930’s (while honing his
skills behind the camera), Rondal Partridge began his own
photographic career in 1940 with an assignment from National
Youth Administration (NYA). His instructions: “Do whatever
you want.” He chose to document the young men of the time,
who were facing an impending war in which they would most
certainly be involved.
This NYA
assignment led to a lifelong career in photojournalism
(interrupted only by WWII, during which Partridge served the
Navy Intelligence, as a photographer), making breathtakingly
intimate portraits, devastating environmental statements,
stunning architectural images, and capturing telling moments
of California history. A diverse body of work that reflects
his stubborn aesthetic integrity, Partridge’s photos have
appeared in Audubon, LIFE, Fortune,
Look, Architectural Forum, Collier’s, and
Scientific American, among others.
The
Michael Dawson Gallery is situated inside Dawson's Book Shop,
the oldest continuously operating book shop in the city of Los
Angeles. Since 1905, Dawson's Book Shop has been the leading
source in Southern California for rare and out of print books
in the fields of California history, photography, and fine
printing.
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For
additional information contact Charles Carroll at Green
Galactic: 323-466-5141 or
charles@greengalactic.com
To R.S.V.P.
for the opening reception, please call 323-469-2186. |
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