ville Collo
LOCAL COLLECTORS'
WORKS HIGHLIGHT
SHOW AT DIA..
SUZANNE CHESSLER
Special to the Jewish News
Id
argot and Warren
Coville, art and news
photo collectors, share their
interest and finds during
"Detroit Focus 2000."
Donors to the Detroit
Institute of Arts (DIA), the
Covilles are responsible for
blocks of images that will be
shown Nov. 3-March 4 at the
museum.
"We will have 100 photos in
our show, and 25 are gifts from
the Covilles," says Ellen Sharp,
DIA curator of graphic arts.
"Twenty black-and-white
closeups of details in nature
are from the complete portfo-
lio'of Brett Weston, a pho-
tographer who wanted to
exhibit only prints he could
make himself Shortly before
his death in 1993, Weston
burned all but 12 of his nega-
tives. The other pictures from
the Covilles are color prints,
French country and street
scenes shot by Joel
Meyerowitz.'
Warren Coville, a profes-
sional portrait photographer
who had a studio in Detroit
before operating his own
photo finishing firm, started
his collection in 1974, fasci-
nated by both artistic talents
and the documentation of
history
"I think that Brett Weston
had a good eye for composi-
tion," says Coville, who
divides his time between
Michigan and Florida and
plans to be in town for the
opening of the photo festival.
He was technically profi-
cient and made his work
seem abstract"
The Covilles' collection has
included 2,500 photos taken
by some of the world's most
acclaimed photographers. In
recent years, the couple have
been giving away some of
their holdings and turning
their attention to other forms
of art.
"We keep changing the
photos on display at home
and at the office," says
way Stettner works, his favorite camera remains a Leica
model that hasn't been manufactured since 1976. He
likes its large image finder and the way it fits his hand.
"Things are not necessarily better because they are
new," he says.
When Stettner is out looking for metro Detroiters
to photograph, he will
rely on intuition. If a
face gives him good
vibrations, he will ask
the person for about
15 minutes of camera
rime. He will talk with
subjects while he's shooting, trying to make them
feel relaxed about being themselves.
As he photographed the Jewish man on the boat,
he tried to capture all the fear of leaving something
known and coming to the unknown.
"I'm Jewish, and I'd like to think that my attitude
toward people is one of pride in the Jewish culture,
Stettner says. "I take a humanist approach. My mas-
ters, the people I admired and [those who encouraged
me], Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand, were Jewish. My
colleagues are Jewish, and I would like to think that
there is a Jewish way of feeling about the world."
Those who would like to see more of Stettner's
work and learn more about him can get the book
Coville, whose interest in
photography started as a -**** 1
hobby and enlarged to make
him an aerial photographer
in the Army.
The Covilles buy photos
from dealers, at auctions and
through agencies. They have
selected pictures based on the
way certain photographers
captured their subjects.
"Photography has been
more difficult than free art
forms because it has dealt
with reality that can't be
changed," Coville says. "The
parameters have been very
tight. I think we are going to
see the results of more photo-
graphic imagination as people
get more proficient in using
computers."
Jewish photographers
Alfred Eisenstadt and
Margaret Bourke-White are
among the Covilles' favorite
artists because of their pic-
tures that show important
moments in history. Among
historical images in the
Covilles' holdings are the
assassination of President
Kennedy, Hitler with
Mussolini and a Vietnamese
general on the
Brett 1 Weston:
Rabin and Mubarak
attack.
'Sierra Lake,'
all adjusting their
"History presents
Bela tin
ties before going in
some gruesome
silver print.
front of TV cam-
sights," says
eras."
Coville, who also has the
The Covilles, who still plan
news photo of children being
visits to photo shows in New
led out of a California Jewish
York, put together a traveling
center where a gunman
photo exhibit, "From
endangered their lives.
Pictorialism to Modernism,"
"Not all our photos are
that stopped at nine U.S.
happy, but many of them are. venues and ultimately went
I like the one taken at the
to the Library of Congress. ❑
White House with Clinton,
The photography of Brett Weston and Joel Meyerowitz, col-
lected by Margot and Warren Coville, will be on display
Nov. 3-March 4 at the Detroit Institute of Arts. Free with
museum admission. (313) 833-8499.
Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets (Flammarion; $50).
"The publisher wanted it to be a reference of me
in 50 years [at work]," says Stettner, who also is
beginning a pictorial series on the Seine. "I chose all
the photographs, and it's very thorough. I wrote
every word, and it tells my whole life story and how
I feel about photography"
Stettner, who organized
the first exhibition of
French photography in the
Louis Stettner
United States in 1947, has
one ultimate criterion for
judging photography
"Time defines the value of a photograph," he says.
"The pictures I'm showing in Detroit have with-
stood the test of time." Li
"Time defines the value
of a photograph."
"
"Wisdom Cries Out in the Streets," an exhibi-
tion of the photographs of Louis Stettner, will
be on view Nov. 1-Dec. 31 at the Creative Arts
Center, 47 Williams St., Pontiac. An opening
reception runs 6-10 p.m. Friday, Nov. 3. There
will be a discussion and book signing, "Artists
and Reality," 3-5 p.m. Saturday, Nov. 4. For
more information, call (248) 333-7849.
Stettner has uvrked.
in Paris since 1990.
4