(Paul Feinberg) - Manon Cleary - 2011.
Born to poor immigrant grocers in D.C., Paul Feinberg was expected to find a stable job when he grew up. So he ended up working as an engineer at the Goddard Space Center.
But he longed for a more artistic life, and he began to photograph lives of those on the margins, around the now long-gone Greyhound bus station, in old pool halls, barrooms and strip clubs. He also photographed artists, beginning in the late 1960s.
(Annie Feinberg) - Paul Feinberg.
The camera, Feinberg says, “gave me the excuse to find out what other parts of the outside world, which I hadn’t been exposed to, or didn’t know much about, or was curious about or thought I wanted to be in.”
Though he didn’t consider becoming an artist, “there was always something about the life of an artist, having read Hemingway and writers back then, that appealed to me.”
His first taste came when he met artist Manon Cleary in her Adams Morgan studio. Suddenly, Feinberg says, “I found this stereotype that I imagined: a real bohemian artist in this city.” Through her, Feinberg met other artists who “made life here much more cosmopolitan to a person that knew none of these worlds growing up.”
Over the years, Feinberg’s images became the basis of dozens of magazine photo stories and a handful of gallery shows, from his earliest bus station essay to 2009’s “Another Washington,” a show of images he captured of tattoo artists, panhandlers, burlesque queens and others from the 1970s and ’80s.
When Cleary took ill in recent years, she requested he continue to photograph her in her studio. It got Feinberg thinking of the other artists he had met decades ago as well. He found them all still working and still committed to their painting, even as the art world had in many cases moved on to the next big thing.
Double portraits of nine artists comprise his new show, “Constant Artist,” opening June 9 at the Katzen Arts Center at American University, along with what he calls “word portraits” — excerpts from the transcribed interviews Feinberg includes with his work.
As with his previous shots of gritty, bygone Washington, “the point of much of it is showing change,” he says.
Artists included the show are Lisa Montag Brotman, Rebecca Davenport, Fred Folsom, Tom Green, Margarida Kendall Hull, Joseph White and the three pictured here.
In addition to the double portraits of those artists, we asked Feinberg to provide similar then-and-now photographs of himself.
Paul Feinberg
Photographed in 1979 and 2012
Photographer and interviewer, his work has appeared in Washingtonian, The Washington Post magazine and in exhibits.
“I don’t consider myself an artist. I’m a documentarian. I want to give these people some attention. Outside of their obituaries, you don’t get to read about them all that much . . .
“The artists’ photographs are mostly close-up portraits in order to emphasize the passage of time. . . . But in the bigger picture, it comments on change: change to a vibrant, creative, cultural part of our city, and change in life expectations as we grow older.
“In spite of many obstacles, these nine artists, having been recognized as among the best of our city, continue to produce their art as they have since their youth and strive to maintain or re-establish the acceptance and appreciation of their artistic visions.”
After 12 years at the Portrait Gallery, Frank and Anne Collins Goodyear are becoming co-directors of the Bowdoin College Museum of Art in Maine.
1368828015000
Swiss duo reinvigorates old artistic ideas in a show that is delightful, engaging and often moving.
1368824532000
The magnificent centerpiece to “Sculpture on the Wall” breaks through the Barnes’s fustiness.
1368823195000
If the Smithsonian doesn’t move forward with the Bubble, creative stagnation will be business as usual.
1368822963000
South Carolina artist James Busby uses deep texture and grooves in his paintings on panels.
1368747336000First major U.S. survey of avant-garde English art movement closes at the National Gallery of Art.
1368720412000At Flashpoint Gallery, an exhibition of photography and film projection.
1368720197000
Twice-delayed Mall project would lose money in all 3 scenarios examined in study.
1368581280000
A handful of museums are waiving admission on Saturday.
1368554348000
Artists showed varying degrees of political sentiment in the time of the Nazi Party.
1368209400000
The National Gallery of Art’s “Diaghilev and the Ballets Russes” looks at the stages in a storied life.
1368208440000
The company created something brand-new and made it wildly popular throughout European society.
1368208200000
38 costumes show that the Ballets Russes’ fashions were as essential to myth as the choreography or scores.
1368208131000The Post Most: EntertainmentMost-viewed stories,videos, and galleries in the past two hours
Going Out Guide
Movies
Best Bets
Recently Reviewed Restaurants
_20x16FIXED.tif )
Loading...
Comments