Portraits of Frida
by Lucienne Bloch and Nickolas Muray
Ron Cowie: Oceanhead Meditation
June 22 – August 17, 2024
Opening Reception:
Saturday, June 22nd from 4 – 7 PM
Saturday, July 6th – Frida’s Birthday Party!
PDNB Gallery is excited to present two exhibitions this summer:
Portraits of Frida will include extraordinary photographs of the celebrated painter, Frida Kahlo, by two artists, Lucienne Bloch and Nickolas Muray.
Lucienne Bloch (1909 – 1999, b. Geneva, Switzerland) met the married artist couple, Frida and Diego in 1932 when hired to work with the very notable painter, Diego Rivera, in Detroit. This project at the Detroit Institute of Art became the most important Diego Rivera mural in the United States. Lucienne, Diego and Frida became fast friends. Some of Lucienne’s portraits of Frida in Detroit will be included in this exhibition.
Nickolas Muray (1892 – 1965, b. Szeged, Hungary) was a
successful commercial photographer and two-time Olympic fencer based in New York. He was known for his portraits of actors, playwrights, ballet dancers and other notable figures in the arts. Muray was a pioneer in color photography advertising. Ladies Home Journal produced the first natural color advertising photograph in 1931, Muray’s grand Miami image of a swimming pool with 17 models in swimwear. He was a master printer, using the three-color carbon printing process, revealing deeply saturated color, which became a signature of his photographs.
Muray met Frida in Mexico through their mutual friend, the artist, Miguel Covarrubias. Nick and Frida became lovers for the next ten years, resulting in some of the most important photographic portraits of Frida ever taken. Some of these iconic images will be featured in this exhibition.
On Saturday, July 6th, PDNB Gallery will celebrate Frida Kahlo’s birthday at the gallery. More information will be released soon.
Ron Cowie: Oceanhead Meditation
PDNB Gallery is presenting work by Rhode Islander, Ron Cowie (b. 1970, Berwick, Pennsylvania), for the first time. His Oceanhead series is a small exhibition of platinum prints he created in 2004 with a 5 x 7 camera, using an antique lens and slow film. Ron is a great printer, he even printed for gallery artist, Jeffrey Silverthorne. His exquisite platinum prints of the ocean waves are reminiscent of the French painter and photographer Gustave Le Gray’s sublime seascape salt prints.
