Your Weekly Mr. Littlejeans

What's the Point?

Oops, I meant to post this last month as something I wanted for Christmas, but then I realized it was out of print. After that, the whole "what I want for Christmas" series got back-burnered (along with most of the other so-called "series," or "serieses," that I said I'd start).

In any case – I'm going to start looking around for an old VHS copy of Michelangelo Antonioni's beautiful and strange story of disaffected youth, Zabriskie Point. Check it:



I picked up the soundtrack at a flea market several years ago. Here's a sample:
Pink Floyd Heart Beat, Pig Meat mp3

Running, Jumping, Standing Still

Martin Munkacsi Peignoir in a light breeze, 1936

One of several shows opening January 16th at the International Center of Photography draws from a newly discovered cache of Hungarian photographer Martin Munkacsi's negatives. There was another exhibition of his work at ICP a few years ago and it was truly stunning. Munkacsi (my Hungarian friend tells me it's pronounced kind of like "Moon-Kashi") was one of the most famous photographers in the world in his day, influencing greats such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Richard Avedon with his unique take on photo-journalism – and, later, on fashion photography through his work with Carmel Snow at Harper's Bazaar.

Left, Martin Munkacsi, 1933 / Right, Richard Avedon, 1969

Here are some of my favorite Munkacsi images:

Martin Munkacsi, Berlin vs. Budapest, ca. 1928

Martin Munkacsi, Greta Garbo on vacation, ca. 1932

Martin Munkacsi, Lucile Brokaw on the Long Island Beach, 1933

Munkacsi's Lost Archive runs January 16–May 3 at ICP. If you can't make it or want more images/info, Steidl released a great book on Munkacsi's life and work in 2006:


All images © Joan Munkacsi

Closed for Construction

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Emily and I are FINALLY moving into our condo on Capitol Hill (I'm sure I have mentioned this 800 times – we bought it back in October 2007 and have been renting it out) so posting is going to be light this week. I cannot begin to explain how excited I am to end four months of living out of bags and boxes! So excited that I used an exclamation point.

Above, Detail from Word Map of Seattle, 1971 via Seattle Municipal Archives