Cawthra, Benjamin; Snitzer, Herb

Herb Snitzer: Photographs from the Last Years of Metronome

St. Louis, MO: Sheldon Art Galleries, 2008. First Edition. Softcover. Inscribed, signed & dated by Herb Snitzer to George Bornstein. "Herb Snitzer's life as an artist is about belonging, about acknowledging the right to belong, whether it is Louis Armstrong on a hot bus ride or a girl on a swing in the park." (excerpt, pg. 19). Herb Snitzer: Photographs from the Last Years of Metronome is a catalog for the exhibition that American cultural & public historian Benjamin Cawthra (b. 1965) curated at the Sheldon Hall and Art Galleries, May–September 2008 (billed there as "Photographs from the Last Days of Metronome") and it accompanied the 2008 show "Herb Snitzer: Photographs from the Last Years of Metronome." It gathers American photographer Herb Snitzer's (1932-2022) work from his tenure at Metronome, one of the two major American jazz monthlies of the time, during the magazine's terminal stretch. Snitzer came in freelance in October 1958 for an assignment on Lester Young at the Five Spot, roughly 120 frames, months before Young's death, and joined the staff in early 1960 as photography editor and circulation director at $125 a week: days spent trying to keep a dying magazine solvent, nights shooting in clubs. Metronome folded with the December 1961 issue. The signature images from those three years are of Louis Armstrong on the bus to Tanglewood wearing a Star of David; Thelonius Monk at the UN with the keyboard reflected in his sunglasses; Coleman Hawkins shot sharply from below for the June 1960 cover; Cecil Taylor in a window reflection, September 1960 & John Coltrane at the Village Gate, August 1961. Snitzer would go on to join the NAACP, and spend thirty years photographing civil rights demonstrations, protests, and pride parades. He opened his own gallery in 2014 & published Glorious Days and Nights: A Jazz Memoir (See Item No. 9403) Please also see Item No. 9407 for more from Snitzer. From the collection of the late, great George Bornstein (1941-2021), scholar, author & academician here at the University of Michigan- a quintessential Man of Letters. At title page, Snitzer has inscribed, signed & dated to Bornstein in raven black ink: "To: George! | All the best. | (signed) Herb Snitzer 2008." Large-Format Softcover Original: First Edition per copyright page, first printing though not explicated as such thereon. A most collectible exhibition catalog of early 1960s jazz photography in its rarest contemporary form with very distinguished association & provenance, greatly enhanced by the photographer's inscription, signature & date. In relatively fine-to-very fine condition with mild scratching to front, back covers & spine; mild age-toning & smudging to fine edges of same; light creasing/bumping to bottom corner of front & back covers; mild vertical creasing to tops of front & back covers at spine; mild age-toning & rubbing to text block. Interior fine-to-very fine with mild age-toning mostly to blank margins & fine edges of some page leaves; very mild creasing to bottom corner of pages 90-101. Fine-Very Fine. [Item #9405]

Price: $100.00