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tienramadan · 4 months

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Anti-Israel activists behind Columbia University protests trained in Cuba for years

Some of the anti-Israel protests taking place at U.S. college campuses, including the recent demonstrations at Columbia University, have been supported by organizations that traveled to communist Cuba to receive resistance training, an ADN investigation has uncovered.

ADN’s investigation coincides with a recent Sunday report published by the New York Post that revealed a radical NYC based organization known as The People’s Forum familiarized anti-Israel activists with Black Lives Matter protest techniques just hours before they stormed Hamilton Hall at Columbia University, and that the group was incited by Manolo De Los Santos–a radical activist organizer with deep ties to communist Cuba.

De Los Santos, who has long been the subject of past ADN investigations, has a lengthy, storied history of working with some of Cuba’s top communist party leaders including its president, Miguel Diaz-Canel.

This past weekend the former seminarian turned radical leftist activist urged pro-Palestinian Columbia student protestors to “give Joe Biden a hot summer” and criticized Columbia's “Zionist” administration for wanting to “resemble its masters in Israel.” He praised demonstrators for “deciding that resistance is more important than negotiations” and incited protesters to “make business as usual in this country unsustainable.”

Hours after Monday’s meeting was convened, dozens of protesters broke into and illegally stormed into Columbia University's Hamilton Hall, seizing control of the university building in a standoff with education officials–the culmination of decades of Cuba promoting anti-Israel sentiment within U.S. based radical leftist organizations–and De Los Santos was credited for recreating “the summer of 2020,” a reference to the Black Lives Matter violence that besieged northern U.S. cities after the death of Minneapolis resident George Floyd.

The People’s Forum is known for having sympathies to the Chinese and Cuban communist parties, and describes itself as “an incubator of movements for the working class and marginalized communities,” and has been a cornerstone of anti-Israel protests since Hamas' attack on the Jewish state on Oct. 7, 2023.

One day after Hamas' attack on southern Israel, TPF organized a protest in Times Square where attendees celebrated the terrorist organization and waved signs with anti-Semitic slogans and images.

According to a New Lines investigation conducted by journalist and foreign influence researcher Alexander Reid Ross, TPF's operations are largely made possible by a $12 million donation from pro-China tech mogul Neville Roy Singham, through the People's Support Foundation (PSF).

New Lines also reported that Singham is in a relationship with Code Pink co-founder Jodie Evans who also serves on PSF’s board, which occupied the Venezuelan embassy in D.C. to protest against opposition leader Juan Guaidó, and organizes pro-Cuban regime initiatives in the U.S.

Manolo De Los Santos: A TPF leader who was “based out of Cuba for many years”

The group’s co-executive director, Manolo De Los Santos, is longtime researcher at the Marxist Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research and was “based out of Cuba for many years,” where he “worked toward building international networks of people’s movements and organizations,” according to his biography at the anti-Israel group Black Alliance for Peace.

At least since 2016, De Los Santos has been documented in Cuba with delegations of U.S activists received by the Cuban Institute for Friendship with the Peoples (ICAP), whose current director was prosecuted and convicted by the U.S. for espionage as part of the infamous WASP network in the 1990s.

Cuban intelligence Officer (DGI) Juan Reyes-Alonso has said that about 90 percent of ICAP personnel are thought to be DGI-affiliated, according to a 2009 Washington Times column by DIA officer Chris Simmons.

Manolo was born in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. His family moved to the South Bronx, New York when he was five years old. He first visited Cuba in 2006 with the organization, Pastors for Peace. Pastors for Peace is a member of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) in the United States, a coalition of U.S groups who support the Cuban regime.

He later studied in Cuba at the Matanzas Evangelical Seminary in the area of Marxist-driven liberation theology on the island, an ideology that former Romanian intelligence officer Ion Mihai Pacepa says was created by the KGB “to enroll Latin leaders” in the Soviet Union’s espionage operations.

Inspiring Marxist revolution and race riots in the U.S.A.

While in Cuba De Los Santos also represented the U.S. based radical leftist Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO).

“Founded in 1967 by the Reverend Lucius Walker, Jr. and a number of fellow progressive church leaders and activists, the Interreligious Foundation for Community Organization (IFCO) is an ecumenical agency whose mission is “to help forward the struggles of oppressed people for justice and self-determination” through its “support of community organizing.”

In 1968, the IFCO helped establish Operation Connection, which dispatched teams of activists into American cities that had been struck by race riots, “to open dialogue and work through alternatives to violent confrontation.”

The IFCO has served as a fiscal sponsor for numerous activist organizations including the Free Mumia Abu-Jamal Coalition, a group that advocated for the liberation of Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal an activist convicted of the 1981 murder of Philadelphia policeman Daniel Faulkner.

In 2018, after living in Cuba, De los Santos assumed the role of founding director of the NYC based People’s Forum, a group that identifies itself as “serving as a movement incubator for working-class communities to foster unity across historic lines of division both domestically and internationally.”

He has been traveling to Cuba since at least 2009, and has been prominently featured in the Cuban-regime press for almost a decade. Reports indicate that back in the U.S he organized rallies in the U.S. to support the Cuban regime and that he is a staunch admirer of Fidel Castro.

“Fidel for us is a great example,” he said in 2016. “I wish all leaders were like him, and many of them had the dignity and integrity of the Commander.”

De los Santos has also expressed admiration for former Venezuelan dictator Hugo Chávez, recalling multiple times when the late leader returned to power after a coup attempt against him in 2002.

“It's always good to remember how the Venezuelan people defeated a U.S.-backed coup and returned Chavez to power in less than 3 days!" De Los Santos wrote on social media in April.

In July 2022, Cuba’s president, Miguel Díaz-Canel, received De los Santos and executive director of Tricontinental: Institute for Social Research, Vijay Prashad with the aim of "elaborating a new consensus, based on theory and according to the different experiences of social movements and countries, on the path of socialism."

In May 2023, over 300 activists from the United States, who traveled with the People’s Forum to the island, met with Cuban-appointed president Miguel Diaz-Canel, as reported by Cuban-state press (Granma). Palestinian flags were visible in the pictures of the meeting.

“Our commitment upon returning,” De los Santos said during an interview, “will not only be to raise our voice, but to organize a different political project in the United States, and we will always be by Cuba’s side.”

In April 2023, another coalition of 150 American activists had previously traveled to the island to "exchange" with "grassroots activists" in Cuba, according to Liberation News.

This delegation remained in Cuba for 10 days and was organized by the International Peoples' Assembly (IPA) and included leaders from organizations such as Black Men Build, Black Lives Matter Grassroots, the Palestinian Youth Movement, the Party for Socialism and Liberation, the People’s Forum, among others.

This meeting occurred months after Iranian Foreign Minister Hossein Amirabdollahian visited Cuba and met with President Miguel Díaz-Canel on February 5th. According to a statement from the Islamic Republic's Ministry of Foreign Affairs, they discussed "issues of mutual interest and international topics." Then, on February 25th, a Hamas delegation publicly visited the Cuban Ambassador in Lebanon.

Hamas reported that its delegation consisted of Hamas representative to Lebanon Ahmad Abdul Hadi and Head of the Hamas Political and Media Relations Office Abdul Majeed Al-Awad, according to the Counter Extremism Project.

For decades the Cuban regime has been training radical groups in the United States under the auspices of ‘solidarity movements,’ such was the case of the Weather Underground, a militant antiwar organization, in the late 1960’s.

In February 2023, De Los Santos, spoke in Havana during one of the intermissions of the sessions of the First International Meeting of Theoretical Publications of Leftist Parties and Movements that took place in Cuba at the Casa de las Américas.

The Palestinian pro-Cuba connection

This year, Cuba held a second theoretical meeting. Among the panelists at the meeting was Watam Jamil Alabed, whom Granma identifies as a “young Palestinian doctor,” but who studied in Cuba and is the representative in Cuba for the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP), designated as a terrorist organization by the European Community, the United States, and Israel.

NGO Monitor has documented the PFPL role in the Oct. 7 attacks.

According to the Center for a Free Cuba, “Havana under the Castro regime, has trained and provided logistical support to Palestinian guerrillas and terrorists beginning in the early 1960s, and continues to do so to the present day.”

This Monday, De Los Santos was using its social media to promote a Havana-based rally in support of Palestine. Watan Jamil Alabed, a representative of the PFLP, was also present at the meeting. The PFLP is responsible for a string of attacks on Israeli civilians and is closely allied to both Hamas and Hezbollah. Students from the NYU encampment sent videos to Havana expressing their gratitude for its support.

During the pro-Palestine protest in Havana, Jamil Alabed said: “The students are in the vanguard and they believe in the victory of our cause, because they know that to fight for Palestine is to fight for the world.”

He was followed by Shaquille Fontenot, a co-chair of the National Network on Cuba (NNOC) in the United States. She demanded that President Biden “stop spending money on wars and use it on health and the desperately needed building of affordable homes for our people.”

The NNOC, is an umbrella of more than 72 Cuban regime solidarity groups in the U.S that Mr. De Santos has been linked in the past to anti-Israel protests.

American activist Calla Walsh, a co-chair of the NNOC was arrested last year for attacking the offices of an Israeli company in New Hampshire. The former Disney actress and her associates were recently indicted in February by the New Hampshire Justice Department for spray-painting the building, smashing windows, and setting off incendiary devices.

Ms. Walsh has also reportedly traveled to Cuba for years with the Venceremos Brigade.

According to the FBI, Cuba’s intelligence apparatus played a significant role in setting up the Venceremos Brigades. The federal law enforcement agency has said the Brigade’s objective “is the recruitment of individuals who are politically oriented and who someday may obtain a position, elective or appointive, somewhere in the U.S. government, which would provide the Cuban government with access to political, economic and military intelligence.”

Ms. Walsh has previously promoted the infamous “Mapping Project” on social media, which lists the names and addresses of nearly 500 institutions in Massachusetts, many of them linked to the Jewish community or Israel. Additionally, she has shared online that “there is no ‘peaceful solution’ under military occupation” for Palestinians.

Other U.S based activists connected with anti-Israel groups in the U.S have also been traveling to Cuba for “exchanges” and “workshops.”

Promoting pro-Palestinian antisemitism within the radical Black community

Onyesonwu Chatoyer, who is on the National Coordinating Committee of the Venceremos Brigade and the All African People’s Revolutionary Party (A-APRP) in the U.S said “There has never been a moment where we questioned the necessity of a struggle to smash Zionism,” referring to A-APRP and other “Black revolutionary movements.”

About her trips to Cuba, Chatoyer has said: “Participating in the Brigade for just two weeks provided me with several years’ worth of political growth. It is a remarkable opportunity for leadership development and political education and the building of political maturity.

Getting as many U.S. organizers as possible to participate in work-based solidarity delegations to Cuba would produce a qualitative leap forward in the organizing of movements for justice in the U.S. and to the global movement to end the U.S. blockade and U.S. attacks against the Cuban revolution.”

Since 2024, the A-APRP have been building work study circles across the state of Florida, “recruiting organizers we have been working in coalition with to participate in the next contingent of the Venceremos Brigade, and organizing seminars, webinars, workshops, and any kind of educational space.”

Onyesonwu is also a member of the Black Alliance for Peace, a group that has been organizing anti-Israel meetings across campus and claims to have led an “International Coalition” condemning Israel.

On Oct. 11, the Black Alliance for Peace, a self-described human rights-focused group led by former Green Party vice presidential candidate Ajamu Baraka, released a statement condemning “the murderous assault on occupied Palestine” committed by “the illegal Zionist settler-colonial, apartheid state” and declaring “that a colonized people have a right to resist occupation and fight for self-determination by any means necessary!” according to the ADL.

Onyesonwu Chatoyer, an editor of the Marxist publication “A Hood Communist,” was part of a “delegation that attended and presented at The Second International Meeting of Theoretical Publications of Left Parties and Movements in Havana, Cuba, along with co-editor, Erica Caines.

At that meeting was also present, Watan Jamil Alabed, representative of The Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP). The PFLP has also been involved in some of the “seminars” with Columbia University students.

In April, Khaled Barakat, a senior member of the Popular Front for the Liberation of Palestine (PFLP) spoke to members of the Columbia University Apartheid Divest Group in a 2 hour seminar called “”Resistance 101,” according to the New York Post.

Barakat has also participated in forums with ICAP discussing how “Palestine, Cuba & Venezuela are at the frontline of anti-imperialist struggles.”

Cuba and the Democratic Socialists of America

Cuba has one of the most sophisticated intelligence services and regularly conducts influence campaigns in the U.S. One such group that has promoted U.S. protests with close Cuban ties is the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA), which has been running candidates in local elections to oust mainstream, moderate Democrats.

The DSA's ties with Havana are so prevalent, that its New York chapter even held a soccer match in May 2023 with Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations.

Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations has been a longtime hub for Cuban intelligence to recruit agents of influence and future assets. Still, the FBI’s New York field office has 12 counterintelligence squads dedicated to Russia, it only has one for Cuba, according to a recent report published by the Wall Street Journal.

In September 2019, two members of New York Cuba’s Mission were expelled from the U.S. for conducting influence campaigns, according to the State Department.

“The Department of State notified the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs that the United States requires the imminent departure of two members of Cuba’s Permanent Mission to the United Nations for abusing their privileges of residence,” the State Department wrote in a statement.

A few months before an unnamed representative of the Cuban Mission in New York was at an event at the People’s Forum on a panel discussion supported by several anti-Israel groups such as the National Lawyers Guild International Committee, which provides legal support to Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions (BDS) movements.

Other groups organizing rallies are chapters of the Peace Action Network, such as the Massachusetts Peace Action Network (MAPA) which have also taken activists to Cuba on “solidarity trips.”

Among the U.S. groups supporting the protests, those who have included "young leaders" in delegations to Cuba to learn about revolutionary movements include The Palestinian Youth Movement (“PYM”) and the Party for Socialism and Liberation.

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apexart-journal · 3 years

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Ann Quintano in NYC, Day 2

Started this rainy day with a Movement Research Class-Alexander Technique. This was really interesting. A great experience for really entering into one’s body in a very mindful way. It creates a real connection between one’s body and the ground, so that any sense of groundedness often thought of in terms of spiritual, emotional, intellectual sense now adds the body as the structure and temple to all of the above.

I particularly liked , and found useful, the concentration on the foot. Our host, Alice had wonderful drawings, diagrams of the structure of the foot with emphasis on the location of center of gravity. Walking gently in the room I could feel the difference connecting to this center of gravity had on my balance and the solidity of my whole body in relation to it. We did various gentle movement standing, laying down. Alice was a good and gentle teacher.

Made the 10:30 ferry to Staten Island when it was not yet raining but cloudy and grey. Sat inside and watched tugboats which I always love. They have such a personality!

Took the bus to Hylan Boulevard and walked to the water’s edge where Alice Austin House and garden sits. I was early so sat on the porch and watched the rain and even in the rain heard bird songs. Saw cormorant belly close to the water fly by. Yesterday I saw about a dozen of them over the course of the day. Though they are water birds...divers at that...their feathers are not waterproof and so they can often be seen perched on pilings wings outstretched drying them in the sun.

It’s a wonderful house with little white benches on the porch and trellises and vines and Wysteria grows nearby. Amy,my tour guide told me of the fascinating life of Alice Austin a photographer and woman way ahead of her time. The house itself was built in the 1600′s but Alice lived there in the late 1800′s. She produced more than 7,000 photographs. I looked through binder after binder of her work and was particularly taken by her street art: characters of the city and a photo on the beach which was double exposure...bathers lined up superimposed over children playing in the sand.

I was heading to Our Lady of Mount Carmel Grotto next. I had looked up a walking route but Amy printed me an alternative route. I had been musing while on the porch of how parochial I have become especially because of the pandemic. I never leave my neighborhood any more. Venturing out to what feels like foreign lands is both somewhat unsettling and adventurous. I’m used to having researched, map in hand, bus schedules etc. and to go rather blindly making my way has been a good experience for me. No map! Where exactly am I? And will I miss a bus stop I can’t even predict when it will show up?

But on to the grotto, a walk in pouring rain. This is an amazing place. A series of outside grottos (artificial cave like structures) built by Vito Russo around 1937 and supported, cared for, further built and prayed to by the Italian American community on Staten Island. One structure is 30′ high all pebble inlaid in cement, sometimes with shells with dozens of niche and shelves with all different saints statues. The main shrine has funeral cards left by devotees, candles. My first impression was that it reminded me of the Hindu temple I went to several times in Queens. Many statues and flowers and devotions. Here we have St. Anthony, St Ann and St. Therese (my name sakes...the latter a Carmelite and my middle name). It’s a fascinating place and very Southern Italian where such grottos are ever present. On the Feast of Our Lady of Mt. Carmel July 16th there is a festival and procession through the streets with the statues. Likewise when I lived near El Barrio there was a procession on 116th Street.

Headed back to the bus to the ferry and the rain’s relentless and long wait for the bus. After disembarking I was to sit in battery park listening to the water and city sounds and a meditation that you dial up on your phone. But it was pretty intense, so I walked a bit in Battery Park and took a peak at the Sea Glass Carousel which I never saw before and headed back.

After drying off I did the dial in for a moment of relaxation in the apartment. I chose the ‘sound bath’. After that (oh and Now the sun comes out!!) Then I went online and did a mindfulness meditation with Jon Kabat-Zinn and one with Tich Nacht Hahn.

Will spend some time now, asI did this morning, going over the Fighting The Dark Audio Tour. I can’t do the audio outside so I’m working with the transcripts inside and then will do the walking tour tomorrow with those transcripts. It works for me. I understand things better when they are written then when they are on audio.

Again I am so very sorry for not being able to show photographs and I have some great ones. The only solution: come to these places yourself and see them in real life!!! In the meanwhile you’ll have to visualize from my writing.

Bye for now...

#Ann Quintano Local NYC #ann quintano #local nyc

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esperstudio · 4 years

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isaiahrippinus · 5 years

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The Most Important Wine Trends of the Decade (2010s)

While the craft beer industry sometimes feels like a speed boat, turning from seasonal releases to short-lived hybrid styles on a dime, the wine industry is an oil tanker by comparison — set in its ways and not changing direction any time fast.

But in reviewing the past 10 years, we’ve realized things move a little faster in the wine world than one might first imagine. A lot has changed since we said goodbye to the aughts and moved into the 2010s.

A number of trends defined the decade, ranging from a surge in popularity for certain categories and styles, to innovative technology, packaging upgrades, and philosophical debates that not only divided wine enthusiasts but gripped the mainstream media.

Here is VinePair’s list of the six most important wine trends of the decade.

Rosé comes from nowhere to become the ultimate summer crush.

In 2018, sales of Provençal rosé, the spiritual heart of the rosé category, topped 2 million cases in the U.S., according to French government agency Business-France. At the beginning of the decade, that figure stood at just 123,000 cases by comparison.

And it wasn’t just Provençal rosé that saw a surge. In the summer of 2017, Nielsen data valued the overall rosé category at $207 million in the U.S., following 53 percent growth in volume sales compared to the previous year. According to Bloomberg’s Elin McCoy, “one out of every 36 bottles of wine Americans drank in 2017 was a rosé.”

The surge in demand for pink wine was the product of a combination of factors. With attractive bottles and labels, and the dazzling pink hues of the wine inside, rosé became not just a drink, but a lifestyle for social-media-savvy drinkers to align themselves with. Rosé’s success soon brought frozen cocktails with clever names (frosé, anyone?) and summer pop-ups designed, in their very essence, to attract Instagram users.

This phenomenon was also aided by celebrity culture, with rosé dubbed “Hampton’s Water” due to its popularity in one of America’s most exclusive communities. Numerous high-profile names got in on the act, too, with releases from Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, John Legend, and Jon Bon Jovi, who took the tongue-in-cheek moniker one step further, calling his release “Diving Into Hampton Water.”

The final year of the decade included notable acquisitions of two of the category’s leading brands. In December, French conglomerate LVMH acquired a majority stake in Chateau d’Esclans, the producer of top-selling Whispering Angel, placing it in a luxury portfolio along with such notable names as Château d’Yquem, Château Cheval Blanc, Krug, and Dom Pérignon. Whispering Angel had become the No. 1-selling French wine in the U.S. within a decade of its 2007 debut, according to Nielsen data. It now accounts for 20 percent of all Provençal rosé consumed in the country.

Meanwhile, in July 2019, the world’s largest beer producer, Anheuser-Busch InBev, announced it was buying White Girl Rosé. The brainchild of Instagram influencer Josh Ostrovsky, a.k.a. The Fat Jew, as well as Alexander Ferzan and brothers David Oliver Cohen and Tanner Cohen, the brand launched under the Swish Beverages umbrella in July 2015, and gained widespread success through the social media mastery of Ostrovsky and the Cohen brothers.

That the category’s two leading brands head into 2020 controlled by two of the world’s most powerful alcohol conglomerates is hardly surprising. But the fact that rosé has managed to transcend status and price points — exemplified by the two contrasting acquisitions — is a fate that was unthinkable at the beginning of the decade.

“Natural” becomes the most-argued term in the history of wine.

No other word in the history of vinified grape juice has incited as much division, debate, and dogma as the term “natural” wine. To even mention the unofficial category is to tread a line of impassioned response and online backlash; so let’s start by getting a few things clear: Yes, the term “natural wine” alludes to a philosophy of winemaking ideals whose roots delve much deeper than Jan. 1, 2010. And yes, “natural” means different things to different people, while currently holding no legal definition in the way that Champagne or grand cru Burgundy does.

(Loosely defined, those with an interest in natural wine accept the term as meaning wines made through minimal intervention, in both the vineyard and winery. Most wine professionals who champion the style would seek a “clean” style of wine, free of any flaws or “funky” notes.)

But from a cultural and data-driven perspective, the rise of natural wine can absolutely be linked to the past 10 years, specifically the final few years of the decade.

A look at Google Trends data stretching back to 2004 (the furthest the search engine allows) shows that between Jan. 1, 2004 and July of 2016, searches for the topic “Natural Wine” registered an unremarkable flatline on the graph. Then, following a dramatic spike in Sep. 2016, the term experienced a strong upward trend culminating in its current-day peak at the end of the decade.

Over the course of the 2010s, numerous written works, including books and articles from authors such as Alice Feiring and Marissa Ross, have sought to educate consumers on the style or category. Meanwhile, sommeliers like Pascaline Lepeltier MS led the natural revolution on the floor, at restaurants like NYC’s now-closed Rouge Tomate.

The decade also saw the successful launch, and subsequent expansion, of international natural wine fairs such as RAW WINE. Created and organized by Isabelle Legeron MW, this year marked the fair’s fourth edition in NYC.

The rise of natural wine also coincided with (or perhaps fueled?) a growing interest in ancient winemaking techniques, most notably skin-contact orange wines fermented in large amphorae. For some, an argument could be made for describing these techniques as minimal by design, while for others, the funky organoleptic profiles these processes provide misrepresents the natural category entirely.

With growing interest toward the end of the decade, multiple articles aimed to provide clarity to the term’s meaning. Instead, they brought more confusion while simultaneously fueling raging interest.

When a notable New York Times article tied natural wine to wellness culture in June 2019, many publications, including this one, questioned the many inaccuracies of this idea. (The Times article was later updated with three separate corrections.) Then, in what must surely be the decade’s last high-profile article on the topic (once again in The Times), the headline posed the question: “Is Natural Wine Dead?”

Penned by Feiring, despite the apparent claims of its headline, the article did not predict a waning in the trend, but instead shed light on some of the biggest issues faced by the category at the end of an eventful decade.

With no legal constraints, the term “natural” is quickly being adopted (or at least alluded to) by corporate and independent wine brands alike. As these companies cash in on the term’s popularity, those producers who are genuinely practicing low-intervention techniques now face an even bigger battle to distinguish themselves and their ideals. Perhaps they might benefit from adopting new, more specific terminology moving into 2020; but either way, this is a debate that will surely continue for years to come.

High-alcohol, high-residual-sugar red blends prove America has a sweet tooth.

In America, there’s a certain stigma around sweet wines and professing one’s preference for the category. But the nation’s sweet tooth was overwhelmingly revealed this decade through the rise and dominance of the “red blend” category.

By 2018, the category, which is dominated by wines containing high levels of alcohol and residual sugar, accounted for nearly 11 percent of off-premise wine sales by volume in the U.S., according to Nielsen data. In terms of red wine, it was the second most popular category behind Cabernet Sauvignon, and the third overall behind Chardonnay, which claimed top spot.

Brands like The Prisoner, which launched in 2003 with an SRP of around $40, helped pave the way for the category’s success. But it was the lower-priced supermarket staples, and the emergence of one brand in particular, that hit the saccharine home run.

Launched by E&J Gallo in 2010, Apothic is a California blend of Merlot, Syrah, and Zinfandel. Arriving with a whopping 16 grams per liter of residual sugar, it embodies the rich, opulent wines that experienced repeated double-digit growth during the second half of the decade. Compared to The Prisoner, it retails at just $10 per bottle.

By 2017, Apothic became one of only four $10-and-up table wine brands to boast U.S. retail sales of above $400 million, according to Shanken News Daily. With sales of 3.4 million cases that same year, Apothic was “the largest [wine] brand by volume in the above-$10 segment.”

Who says we don’t like sweet wines in this country?

Sommeliers help rebrand entire regions.

Moving from broader consumer trends to a trade-focused phenomenon, the last decade also saw previously underappreciated wine regions gain international attention, following their popularity within the wine trade, particularly sommeliers.

The most notable was Beaujolais, which enjoyed a near-complete rebrand. Synonymous for decades with Nouveau (an annual, just-fermented release), within the last 10 years, the region has arguably become better associated with high-quality Cru Beaujolais wines.

Made from Gamay grapes grown across 10 appellations (or “Crus”), these wines — particularly those of the famous “Gang of Four” — transformed the global wine industry’s image of the region, elevating its reputation to one of a world-class terroir, capable of producing “serious” bottles.

For a while, Cru Beaujolais was an insider’s tip as an affordable alternative to the stratospherically priced red wines of Burgundy. But as its stock rose, bottles became harder to come by, and the prices of those from the best producers more than doubled. While somewhat disheartening, it provided evidence that the region’s rebrand was complete.

Other regions that also enjoyed the Midas touch of somm culture in the last decade included the Loire Valley and the Jura. Champagne, too, enjoyed considerable attention from sommeliers, especially smaller grower-producers who practice organic or biodynamic farming techniques.

Canned wine intros a packaging revolution that may just stand the test of time.

The canned wine sector announced itself as a serious category in the U.S. market in 2016, when Nielsen data reported a 125 percent increase in year-over-year sales. Though starting off an admittedly modest base (the category was barely three years old), the figures represented the fastest-growing wine segment in the U.S. Sales totaled $14.5 million in the year ending June 18, 2106, and the category’s value has more than doubled since then. At the end of the decade, it shows no sign of slowing down.

The category’s success can be attributed to a number of brands, including the Family Coppola-owned Sofia Wines, Underwood’s Union Wine Co., Infinite Monkey Theorem, and Bridge Lane. The packaging’s appeal, meanwhile, comes from its convenience, affordability, and lack of pretension.

Since 2017, VinePair has carried out an annual summer tasting of the most widely available canned wines. We can note that the quality of wine inside the innovative packaging has improved dramatically over that short space of time, though it still falls somewhat short of traditional bottles.

The convenience of the packaging, especially from brands offering 187- and 250-milliliter servings, currently makes up for this slight drawback. And if the quality continues to increase at its current rate, within the next decade, there’s no reason why we won’t arrive at the point where cans simply become a medium, rather than a category with an attached asterisk.

Democratization leads to premiumization.

For consumers, perhaps the most important trend of the decade has been the democratization of wine. The trend followed the emergence of a number of media outlets (including this one) that spoke to a younger audience using language that wasn’t alienating. Through easily accessible information, everyday drinkers were able to decode labels and decipher tasting notes on demand. Wine, which had previously been confined to the realm of sommeliers or connoisseurs, was now a democratized commodity.

This trend coincided with vastly improved supermarket wine offerings, through retailers such as Whole Foods, Trader Joe’s, and Costco. Smartphone apps such as Vivino allowed users to search for the bottles on the shelves in front of them and see what everyday drinkers like themselves had to say about them. And if they then wanted to branch out and discover new bottles from the same region, or find wines made using a now-familiar grape but grown in a different region, they could use websites such as Wine-Searcher to track down bottles.

The effect of this breaking of barriers becomes more notable still when looking at one of the decade’s major sales trends: “premiumization.” Perhaps surprisingly, once consumers became their own gatekeepers for information and they better understood the liquid in the bottle, they traded up on their own. And nowhere was this demonstrated better than in the world’s most valuable wine market, according to IWSR data.

In 2018, wine consumption in the U.S. grew by just 0.4 percent, but the premium-and-above segment (bottles that retail for $10 and upward) increased by more than 5 percent. By the end of 2023, IWSR analysts predict that the premium-plus category will have increased its market share even further, and will account for “nearly three in every 10 liters of wine consumed in the U.S.”

While knowledge has long been equated to power, only in the last decade did we realize that in wine, that means spending power.

The article The Most Important Wine Trends of the Decade (2010s) appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/best-wine-trends-2010s/ source https://vinology1.tumblr.com/post/189758314869

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johnboothus · 5 years

Text

The Most Important Wine Trends of the Decade (2010s)

Here is VinePair’s list of the six most important wine trends of the decade.

Rosé comes from nowhere to become the ultimate summer crush.

“Natural” becomes the most-argued term in the history of wine.

But from a cultural and data-driven perspective, the rise of natural wine can absolutely be linked to the past 10 years, specifically the final few years of the decade.

High-alcohol, high-residual-sugar red blends prove America has a sweet tooth.

Who says we don’t like sweet wines in this country?

Sommeliers help rebrand entire regions.

Canned wine intros a packaging revolution that may just stand the test of time.

Democratization leads to premiumization.

While knowledge has long been equated to power, only in the last decade did we realize that in wine, that means spending power.

The article The Most Important Wine Trends of the Decade (2010s) appeared first on VinePair.

Via https://vinepair.com/articles/best-wine-trends-2010s/

source https://vinology1.weebly.com/blog/the-most-important-wine-trends-of-the-decade-2010s

0 notes

wineanddinosaur · 5 years

Text

The Most Important Wine Trends of the Decade (2010s)

Here is VinePair’s list of the six most important wine trends of the decade.

Rosé comes from nowhere to become the ultimate summer crush.

“Natural” becomes the most-argued term in the history of wine.

But from a cultural and data-driven perspective, the rise of natural wine can absolutely be linked to the past 10 years, specifically the final few years of the decade.

High-alcohol, high-residual-sugar red blends prove America has a sweet tooth.

Who says we don’t like sweet wines in this country?

Sommeliers help rebrand entire regions.

Canned wine intros a packaging revolution that may just stand the test of time.

Democratization leads to premiumization.

While knowledge has long been equated to power, only in the last decade did we realize that in wine, that means spending power.

The article The Most Important Wine Trends of the Decade (2010s) appeared first on VinePair.

source https://vinepair.com/articles/best-wine-trends-2010s/

0 notes

oberlinconservatory · 7 years

Text

Oh, SNATS!

Soprano Theodora Nestorova ’18 is certainly not new to campus. She is a fourth-year student in the conservatory, preparing to graduate next spring with a major in vocal performance and a minor in musicology. But even last year, as a junior, Nestorova was learning of on- and off-campus resources she’d been missing out on. When she stumbled upon Student NATS (National Association of Teachers of Singing), she was inspired to create a student chapter at Oberlin Conservatory. Fast forward to today, and OC SNATS (Oberlin Conservatory Student National Association of Teachers of Singing) has been providing singers on campus with performance opportunities, educational experiences, and exposure to compelling guest technicians and musicians for an entire year. Though Theodora is about to graduate and head off into the professional world of music, she sees a bright future for OC SNATS. (The organization is hosting a body mapping residency with Dr. Melissa Malde ’84 September 15 and 16 in Stull Recital Hall—keep scrolling to learn more!)

What first inspired you to make music? What has your Oberlin experience looked like? I have been singing ever since I can remember. At age 5, I started playing piano and I used to sing my piano pieces instead of playing them when I practiced; that's when I knew I wanted to be a singer. As a young soprano, I performed Oberto in Handel’s Alcina with Oberlin Opera Theater in spring 2016 and Amore in Monteverdi’s L’incoronazione di Poppea with Oberlin in Italy in summer 2016. In January 2017, I participated in Emmanuel Music’s The Bach Institute in Boston, MA, which sparked my love for and current work within Baroque music. This past May 2017, I went on tour with the Oberlin Contemporary Music Ensemble under Maestro Tim Weiss at the NYC Bang on a Can 30th Anniversary Concert, which was also an incredible experience. What inspired you to start a Student NATS chapter at Oberlin? When I was working as a Student Laboratory Assistant one day in the Otto B. Schoepfle Vocal Arts Center, I was looking through Professor Emeritus Richard Miller's materials, and came across a National Association of Teachers of Singing Journal. The NATS organization is well-known across America, but I wasn't aware of the opportunity for Student NATS Chapters until I spoke with my voice professor and advisor, Lorraine Manz. Brainstorming with her, I was surprised to find that Oberlin didn't have one and realized what great opportunities this could provide for the student body. In September 2016, I gathered a group of fellow voice majors who were interested in education, and we formed the first Oberlin Conservatory Student National Association of Teachers of Singing Chapter.

What are some of the activities you aim to offer our students? Other than exposing students to guests that aren't a regular part of our curriculum, last year, we began Peer Performance Practice Nights, monthly gatherings for voice majors from all studios to come together in a supportive environment with their colleagues and provide a performance simulation experience. This event arose with high demand to provide a safe place to practice the art of performing. We are continuing this series this year, with a special, fun themed one in December! Also, we organize activities to bring together the vocal department, including screenings of master classes, operas, and concerts, and non-musical related events to build community! In the high-achieving, high-pressure environment of being a singer at Oberlin, we hope to alleviate some stress and bring together students to rekindle passion for what we all love to do. Who is welcome? ALL are welcome! We don't just aim to serve the vocal studies division, we extend the invitation to our entire vocal community within Oberlin—anyone in the college is welcome.

How does the work you do with NATS play a role in your life as a voice major? I have a special interest in education and vocal pedagogy, and forming SNATS has really compelled me to be more in tune with the student body and given me a better perspective for what is out there in voice teaching today. Classical singing is a multifaceted art, so I believe that, for developing singers, exposure to different aspects of singing is crucial. I have learned a lot about arts administration through running the organization, helping me learn even more about the business of singing. I am looking forward to the lessons to take away this year from Dr. Melissa Malde's upcoming Body Mapping Residency, and hopefully many more such events! What exactly is "body mapping" and how can it be beneficial to singers/musicians? What are the goals of this weekend’s residency? I first found out about Dr. Malde from the "Teaching of Singing" class, taught by Professor Lorraine Manz, actually! Ms. Manz handed out some excerpts from Dr. Malde's book, What Every Singer Needs to Know About the Body, and after taking Ms. Manz's suggestion, we contacted Dr. Malde. Body Mapping is the conscious correcting and refining of one's body map to produce efficient, graceful, and coordinated movement. The body map is one's self-representation in one's own brain, one's assumptions or conception of what one's body is like, in whole or part. Many musicians are aware of body techniques to eliminate tension and strain such as the Alexander Technique, but Body Mapping is a bit more individualized, which is great for singers, since we all have a unique construction. The goal of this weekend is to expose students to a different method which hopefully can be taken back to the practice room, lessons, and performances with positive effects on vocal technique and body awareness!

What are some of your goals for NATS? Are there any NATS chapters that you're inspired by? Have you been to any NATS events outside of Oberlin?As a student organization, we aim to extend the range of vocal knowledge and provide unique resources and opportunities to the wider community. We work to listen to suggestions and thoughts of our community and are committed to doing as much as we can to serve those members and ideas. This year, our goal is to make SNATS available as a resource to all interested students in Oberlin. The Indiana University Jacobs School of Music SNATS Chapter has offered some wonderful and engaging events in the past that serve as inspiration to us. Like most young singers, I have competed in the NATS Regional Competitions for many years, but I also had the pleasure of attending the Boston National NATS Conference in 2014, where I saw great lectures and participated in excellent workshops. How can interested vocalists join OC SNATS? Everyone and anyone is welcome to attend our open meetings (which we hold once a month on Sundays from 7:30-8:30 PM in Robertson 308). Just bring your love of singing and ideas! The public can find us on our Facebook Page, where we publish the dates of our open meetings and other information about events at facebook.com/OCSNATS

#oberlin conservatory #oberlin #music school #conservatory #music #classical #opera #historical performance #baroque #singer #singing #studentlife #student #vocalist #school

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amdoca-blog · 5 years

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diane arbus: in the beginning

I don’t know why the gallery has used lower case lettering in its promotional material.

Hayward Gallery, 13 February to 6 May 2019

Organised by The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Curated by Jeff L Rosenheim, Curator in Charge of the Department of Photographs: with Karen Rinaldo, Collections Specialist, Photographs; Martha Deese, Senior Administrator for Exhibitions; and Emily Foss Registrar.

Supported by Cockayne – Grants for the Arts and The London Community Foundation and Alexander Graham, with additional support from Michael G and C Jane Wilson. (Hayward Gallery, 2019).

This exhibition primarily features photographs made with 35mm cameras in and around New York City between 1956 to 1962. Most of the exhibition photographs are gelatin silver prints made by Arbus. Most are held in private collections, and in the Diane Arbus Archive at Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York.

There is also one room displaying A Box of Ten Photographs, a project she worked on between 1969 and 1971. These photographs, on loan from the Victoria and Albert Museum, were printed posthumously by her assistant and student Neil Selkirk (Guggenheim, 2019).

I wondered why nine of these later works are being displayed in a separate room at an exhibition subtitled ‘in the beginning’. Xmas Tree in a living room in Levittown, L.I. 1962 is in the previous room. There is no explanation why. Were they included to show how her work changed over time? They are already kept in London.

There are two rooms of photographs arranged on grids of white columns, “…visitors are free to follow any path they choose as there are only beginnings – no middle and probably no end…” (Hayward Gallery, 2019). I found myself first walking to the back of the room, up and down ‘aisles’ in the opposite direction to other exhibition-goers, to avoid crowding around the prints and to get a better view. Also, what does this statement mean; that her work endures? After visiting the exhibition, I did some reading. I found this quote from a letter she sent to friends in 1957,

“… I am full of a sense of promise, like I often have, the feeling of always being at the beginning…” (Arbus et al, 2012: 141).

I do not know if the organisers of the exhibition are alluding to this remark. I learned that Arbus committed suicide a year after A Box of Ten, a limited portfolio of special prints, with inscribed vellums, was published (Smithsonian, s.d)

Only four sets are known to have been bought in her lifetime, “...by an elite group..” . (Hayward Gallery notice). The notice tells us Marvin Israel designed the packaging, but does not explain who he was. During my reading after the event I learned he was her partner; an artist and, from 1961, art director of Harper’s Bazaar which published her work during the period the Hayward exhibition mainly focusses on.

Between 1956 and 1962 Arbus stopped using a medium format Rolleiflex in favour of a 35mm Nikon (Arbus et al, 2012: 139). Unlike bulky 2 ¼ cameras which “…require the subject’s cooperation and participation…” (Arbus et al, 2012: 59), 35 mm SLRs allow photographers to capture moments and quickly disconnect from the subject.

Images such as:

Old Woman in hospital bed, NYC 1958

Lady in the shower, Coney Island, N.Y. 1959

Man in hat, trunks, sock and shoes, Coney Island 1960

Two girls by a brick wall, NYC 1961

raise the question in my mind about whether these people gave their consent to be photographed, or if some were staged.

In a letter to Marvin Israel she confessed that when visiting the shrine of a disinterred saint , she,

“…got a terrible impulse to photograph her and I tremulously did which wasn’t legal so I pretended to be praying and pregnant…” (Arbus et al, 2012: 146)

In a postcard she sent to Marvin Israel in 1960 she wrote,

“…This photographing is really the business of stealing… I feel indebted to everything for having taken it or being about to…” (Arbus et al, 2012: 147)

I took some notes during my tour of the exhibition of images I found noteworthy. This image Mother Cabrini, a disinterred saint in her glass and gold casket, N.Y.C. 1960 was not among them. I found the story behind the image more interesting. Knowing the photograph is a furtive snap changes its meaning; the exhibition does not explain much. I don’t remember if there was an audio guide. How many people were there like me wa/ondering around the grid?

I did not buy the catalogue, priced at £35, but noted that Revelations was priced at £75. I thought the price was quite high. However, I thought the reproductions were of a better quality and saw that one of the editors was her daughter. I assumed Doon Arbus would be able to share more information about her mother than any other writer. I bought a cheaper copy online.

On reading Revelations I found out that, up until 1958, Arbus experimented with cropping. Photographers and art editors at the time used this technique retrospectively to reveal an image within an image. It could,

“…impose a sense of immediacy, or of a privileged, almost private view after the fact…” (Arbus et al, 2012:52)

Boy above a crowd NYC 1957 illustrates this idea but I do not know whether Arbus cropped it, not having seen the contact sheets. The title does not indicate to the audience what the audience depicted are looking at. They are looking to the left, the boy Arbus wants us to focus on is looking directly at us.

In 1956 Arbus ended her photographic partnership with her husband. She felt her role in their commercial business was as “a glorified stylist” (Arbus et al, 2012: 139). She joined two photography courses taught by Lisette Model (1956 and 57). In the 1940s, Model photographed ordinary people in the streets of New York City.

In 1971 Arbus told students in a master class,

“…In the beginning… I used to make very grainy things. I’d be fascinated by what the grain did because it would make a tapestry of all these little dots…Skin would be the same as water would be the same as sky and you would be dealing mostly in dark and light not so much in flesh and blood… It was my teacher…who finally made it clear to me that the more specific you are, the more general it’ll be…”

(Arbus et al, 2012: 141)

I do not remember seeing Coney Island 1960 (Windy Group) in the exhibition. It is in Revelations, but I am unable to locate the image online. It shows a group of people on a windy beach; a woman is bending over away from the camera and her stripy dress is blowing in the wind. It is extremely grainy; did Arbus intend the grain to suggest a sand storm?

Towards the end of her life Arbus told her students,

“…I remember a long time ago when I first began to photograph I thought, There are an awful lot of people in the world and it’s going to be terribly hard to photograph all of them, so if I photograph some kind of generalized human being, everybody will recognize it…And there are certain evasions, certain nicenesses that I think you have to get out of..” (Arbus et al, 1992:10)

At the Hayward exhibition, I noticed that,

Kid in black face NYC, 1957 is exhibited near, Lady on a bus NYC, 1957.

Was the year-long (1955-6) Montgomery Bus Boycott in Arbus’s mind? Around this time Arbus was trying to find photographic editorial work and took some photographs of litter for a magazine, for which she was unpaid.

“…I followed flying newspapers…running like mad to keep up with dick tracy…” (Arbus et al, 2012: 142)

Windblown headline on a dark pavement, NYC 1956. Most of the photographs in this exhibition are of people. I did not understand the appeal of some of the photographs lacking them, such as those of “…psuedo places…” (Arbus et al, 2012: 163) for example, A castle in Disneyland, cal., 1962, or Rocks on heels, Disneyland, Cal., 1963, but I thought this particular print was inspiring.

I noted a number of photographs taken inside and outside cinemas. Several are of the screen, taken at some distance from it, from the audience’s viewpoint;

A Dominant Picture 1958

Man on screen being choked 1958

had a personal resonance. There is also a close up, probably taken in a cinema, of a scene from the controversial film Baby Doll, 1956.

In Movie theater usher standing by the box office NYC, 1956 an usher stands by the box office in an oversized uniform. It occurred to me, after seeing an online reproduction of this photograph away from the exhibition, that it is reminiscent of a Soviet style uniform. Was Arbus intending to remind us of the 1956 Hungarian Uprising?

In 42nd Street Movie Theater Audience NYC 1958 Arbus’s camera is placed some distance away from the scene. A projector beam cuts through the fug of cigarette smoke. It is not easy to tell what people are doing; there is some blurring, perhaps there are people asleep and a couple kissing. A print made by Neil Selkirk, her student and assistant, is valued at between $20,000 - 30,000. I quite liked the photograph at the exhibition, but I do not think it is that extraordinary.

It seemed to me that Arbus’s intention was to make the ordinary extraordinary and the extraordinary ordinary. In The Backwards Man in his hotel room, 1961 a man is standing in a standard hotel room. His head is directed to the left of the frame, his feet to the right. He is wearing a full length clear plastic mac indoors. Is this to draw attention to his body? After the exhibition I learned he was a contortionist from Hubert’s Dime Museum and Flea Circus in Times Square called Joe Allen;

“… Joe Allen is a metaphor for human destiny – walking blind into the future with an eye on the past…” note in her appointment book (Arbus, 2012:154)

Sontag offered a suggestion as to why Arbus chose her subjects.

“…At the beginning of the sixties, the thriving Freak Show at Coney Island was outlawed; the pressure is on to raze the Times Square turf of drag queens and hustlers and cover it with skyscrapers. And the inhabitants of deviant underworlds are evicted from their restricted territories – banned as unseemly, a public nuisance, obscene, of just unprofitable…”

(Sontag, 1973. 43-44)

There are many photographs of female drag artists in the show. Two different interpretations of ‘woman’ can be seen in the fleshy beauty of Girl in her circus costume backstage, Palisades Park, N.J. 1960, and the haughty and fabulous Blonde female impersonator standing by a dressing table, Hempstead L.I 1959, a coded appropriation of ‘womanliness’.

In October 1959 Arbus started work on a project about aspects of New York life for Esquire magazine, photographing “…the posh to the sordid…” (typewritten letter to Robert Benton, art director of Esquire (Revelations, 2012: 333)

I made a note of the title, Woman in white fur with cigarette, Mulberry Street NYC 1958, at the time of visiting the exhibition, but did not really reflect on the photograph. I felt pressurised by the crowd to move on. The unnamed woman’s stance could be interpreted as expressing her annoyance at being photographed, self-confidence, or self-entitlement. Is she scowling? She fills the frame, and appears quite large. The lights in the background, possibly Xmas street lights, appear to surround her head. Are we meant to see a Valkyrie? The location is Mulberry Street, NYC; the street name made me think of expensive handbags. Is the woman in the background, who I have only just noticed, smiling obsequiously or simply smiling?

For me, Arbus’s titles often suggest a deadpan or sardonic humour, which I enjoy. This title, Miss Maria Seymour dancing with Baron Theo Von Roth at the Grand Opera Ball, NYC 1959, is similar to captions of photographs in society magazines. I don’t know now why I thought this was funny; I did not make adequate notes at the exhibition because I thought I would be able to access the image online at home afterwards.

For some of this work she obtained a Police pass (Revelations, 2012:144); Corpse with receding hairline and a toe tag, N.Y.C. 1959

Looking at photographs of Israel after the exhibition, (Revelations, 2012:145), could this photograph be an inside joke? A notice on the wall at entrance of the Hayward states,

“…This exhibition contains images that some visitors may find upsetting and some that contain nudity. If you require further information, please speak to an exhibition host…”

In postcards sent to Marvin Israel in January 1960 she wrote about a disturbing scene she had photographed,

“… I am not ghoulish am I? I absolutely hate to have a bad conscience, I think it is lewd…Is everyone ghoulish? It wouldn’t anyway have been better to turn away, would it…?” (Revelations, 2012: 145-6).

All layers of society are portrayed in the exhibition. Among the photographs of society people are photographs of performers at the Hubert’s Dime Museum and Flea Circus in Times Square, such as Hezekiah Trambles, ‘The Jungle Creep’. The close up of ‘The Jungle Creep’ is a powerful image. He played a ‘Wild Man of Borneo’ racist stereotype for a living. Tramble’s face fills the frame; the photograph is blurred and grainy. A light source catches highlights in his eyes, perhaps a button over his Adams apple, and a tooth. How many teeth does he have? Are their tears in his upwardly directed eyes? His eyes appear unfocussed. He is photographed from below; he looks monumental.

Arbus photographed various people who she described as ‘freaks’, ‘The Sensitives’ and ‘singular people’. In 1971 she told her students,

“…Freaks was a thing I photographed a lot… There’s a quality of legend about freaks…Most people go through life dreading they’ll have a traumatic experience. Freaks were born with their trauma. They’ve already passed their test in life. They’re aristocrats…” (Arbus et al, 1992:3).

By making us look up at Trambles’ face, did Arbus intend us to see someone deranged? Or a Man with human dignity?

In a notebook she wrote,

“..If we are all freaks the task is to become as much as possible the freak we are...” (Revelations, 2012: 54) and in a postcard to Marvin Israel in 1960 she wrote,

“..Freaks are a fairy tale for grownups. A metaphor which bleeds…” (Revelations, 2012: 54)

In 1961 Arbus completed a story, “The Full Circle” which included portraits of six people including Stormé de Larverie from the Jewel Box Revue’s touring drag artist show, ‘Twenty-Five Men and a Girl’, Miss Stormé de Larverie, the Lady who appears to be a Gentleman NYC 1961.

Neither Esquire nor Harper’s Bazaar published the story with de Larverie. Esquire wanted to leave out Stormé “…due to lack of space. Infinity, the publication of the American Society of Magazine Photographers published the story in 1962 which included de Larverie. Was the de Larverie photograph initially excluded because it depicted a lesbian, or because editors regarded the print as being unremarkable? The Hayward gallery offers no information about de Larverie’s historical importance.

I wasn’t sure if the exhibition was presenting Arbus as a feminist;

Barbershop interior through a glass door, NYC 1957

Blurry woman gazing up smiling, NYC 1957-8

Mood meter machine, NYC 1957

In the barbershop interior we can see men looking at a woman taking photographs in the street at night. Their various expressions include puzzlement, amusement and incredulity. The presence of the woman photographer is only suggested by her reflection in the glass. I am that woman now looking from the outside in. Am I obliged to become involved with what I photograph?

Of the Box of Ten photographs, one of my favourites is,

Retired man and his wife at home in a nudist camp one morning NJ 1963

I see this as a cosy and affectionate. Soft sunlight filters through the net curtains; it is a domestic scene with a twist.

Arbus described her experience of taking photographs in nudist camps in 1971, where she was required to take photographs naked,

“…You may think you’re not (a nudist) but you are…” (Arbus et al, 1992: 4-5)

As a suburban, semi-educated, left-leaning liberal standing in a contemporary Western art gallery, the wall notice warning about nudity surprised me a bit; I wasn’t concerned by the nudity displayed within this context.

Neil Selkirk, who printed the Box of Ten, believed Arbus’s prints look different from other photographers’. She did no dodging or burning,

“…If she ever had the urge or the knowledge to make the print beautiful in a conventional sense, she resisted it. The unique quality of Diane’s prints seems a direct response to what is required if one is extremely curious and utterly dispassionate...” (Revelations, 2012: 275)

He thought she had intended to make the final image look like snapshots or newspaper photographs. To me, the 35 mm photographs in the exhibition generally look like snapshots; the Box of Ten artworks look like beautiful parodies of photographs specific to glossy magazine features. Arbus’ photographs could be seen as diverting, rather like a day out at an art gallery

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Arbus, D (edited by Arbus, Doon, Israel, M) (1992) Diane Arbus, London, Bloomsbury Publishing Ltd.

Arbus, Diane, Arbus Doon, Phillips; S, Sussmann E, Selkirk N, J L Rosenheim (2012) Revelations: Diane Arbus, Munich, Schirmer/Mosel

Guggenheim, K (2019) Diane Arbus: An interview with Jeff L. Rosenheim and Karan Rinaldo. At: https://www.southbankcentre.co.uk/blog/diane-arbus-interview-jeff-rosenheim-karan-rinaldo-hayward-gallery (Accessed on 24 March 2019)

Hayward Gallery (2019) Hayward Gallery Exhibition Guide, London, Hayward Gallery

Metropolitan Museum of Art (2019) diane arbus in the beginning [online] At https://www.metmuseum.org/exhibitions/listings/2016/diane-arbus (Accessed on 30 March 2019)

Smithsonian American Art Museum (s.d) A box of ten photographs [online press release] At: https://s3.amazonaws.com/assets.saam.media/files/documents/2018-04/wall%20text.pdf (Accessed on 30 March 2019).

Sontag S (1973) ‘America seen through photographs, darkly’ in On Photography (1979) London, Penguin Books Ltd

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1998charlie · 8 years

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History of Fashion Photography - Research

1830s-modern day

1830/40s

It wasn’t until this time that the actual method of photography was developed but the whole idea of Fashion Photography didn’t come about until later. It wasn’t until the 1st decade of the 20th century that fashion photos came about. This was because halftone printing techniques were made in this time. The roots of the profession are found in Victorian society portraiture. From as early as the 1840s, debutantes, actresses, and dancers posed in their finery for portrait photographers, similar to how their mothers had sat for the great portrait painters of their day. During the age of pre-photography age, fashion magazines such as Le Costume Francais and Journal des Dames et des Modes had included engraved illustrations but had only a limited readership. The advancements in the processes of printing in the 1890s allowed photographs to be printed on the same page as text, this caused fashion magazines to become more widely available.

1900

In 1909, Conde Nast Bought an American social magazine entitled Vogue. He transformed it into a high-class fashion publication with international aspirations. Swiftly followed by the re-launched Harper’s Bazaar, Vogue sought to capture the spirit and fashions of New York London and Paris through innovative photography and a growing supply of glamorous models.

Fashion photography rose because of the start of magazines such as Harper’s bazar 1867 and vogue 1892. They introduced fashion and therefore the art of fashion photography to the world.

It was in 1911, at the height of Europe’s golden age of prosperity and elegance, that the NYC based American photographer Edward Steichen photographed models wearing dresses by the designer Paul Poiret. Thirteen soft focus images were printed in the magazine ‘Art et Decoration’, and he later proclaimed them ‘the first serious fashion photographs ever made.’

Vogue hired who was considered the first fashion photographers, launching his career :

Baron Adolphe de Meyer – hired in 1913 by Conde Nast to take some experimental shots for vogue. His most famous traits was his use of soft-lenses and backlighting his photos. His photos for fashion were mainly based on models in clothes they already owned, as well as photos of actresses and actors.

1920-30s

Surrealism had a large impact on fashion magazines, paintings by Salvador Dali and Giorgio de Chirico featured in vogue alongside avant-garde photographers adopted their revolutionary principles attempting to give visual expression to the unconscious mind. New techniques and unexpected juxtapositions were used to challenge perceptions of reality, to amuse and to disturb. Such bold experiments angered Vogue editor Edna Woolman Chase, who wrote angrily to her staff in 1938 ‘Concentrate completely on showing the dress, light it for this purpose and if that can’t be done with art then art be damned. Show the dress.’

1930

The demand for editorial content in magazines began to increase. This was the catalyst towards the evolution of photography. Steichen during this time also became the highest paid fashion photographer whilst he was working for both vanity fair and vogue.

Till the 30s Paris was considered the centre of fashion and fashion photography, it attracted photographers such as Horst P. Horst and George Hoyningen-Huene, both of whom were introduced by vogue.

George Hoyningen-Huene – inspired a generation, his own work reflected a painterly fascination with light, shade, and classical forms.

Horst P. Horst – Hoyningen-Huene’s protégé, produced similarly inventive images, fusing surreal and classical motifs.

Edward Steichen – immortalized Greta Garbo

Cecil Beaton – worked for vanity fair and vogue, won an Oscar for Audrey Hepburn’s costumes in my fair lady

Martin Mukancsi – first to introduce movement into fashion photography, and the first to work primarily outside the studio. ‘Never pose your subjects. Let them move about naturally. All great photographs today are snapshots’. This new cinematic vision was vigorously promoted by the powerful art directors Alexey Brodovitch at Harper’s Bazaar and Alexander Liberman at Vogue.

Louise Dahl-Wolf – first to bring natural light into fashion photography, to choose exotic locations and be a pioneer of colours

Post ww2

During ww2, ‘make do and mend’ was the prevailing approach to fashion, as the world slowly recovered from the horrors of war, a fresh cohort of designers emerged. The desire to embrace glamour and femininity after years of war prevailed, and the most extreme works came in the form of Christian Dior’s New Look, launched in 1947, with nipped in waists and extravagantly full skirts.

The elegant and sensual vision of photographer Lillian Bassman complemented the new fashions. She pioneered an approach in which evoking a mood took precedence over depicting the details of the clothes. Bassman’s grainy images frustrated Harper’s Bazaar editor Carmel Snow, who warned her in 1949, ‘You are not here to make art, you are here to show the buttons and bows’ Erwin Blumenfeld also pushed the boundaries of experimental fashion photography. He favoured Kodachrome colour film, which enabled his vivid images to leap from the magazine page.

1951 – fashion photography was taken in a brand-new direction. Richard Avedon made this huge change due to his modernistic style which put an end to the more classic style and it made a large effect of fashion photography.

Photographers such as:

Irving Penn – became famous for his portraits, such as his wife Lisa Fonssagrives. His photography is recognisable due to his photos having a very classic style. Had the longest tenure in the history of vogue magazine, saw his role as ‘selling dreams, not clothes’

Richard Avedon – 1957, he photographed a model striding along the Place Francois-Premier in Paris for American Harper’s Bazaar. He tilted the photograph in Homage to Munkacsi, of whom deeply influenced Avedon. Resulting in him working for Harper’s Bazaar, vogue and look. famous for very personal style of photography, but also for the portraits he made of famous artists, actors and of his father. His most famous fashion photograph is that of the model Dovima with the elephants, where she is portrayed with a Dior dress on (1955)

Norman Parkinson - worked for London vogue and was the first to shoot outdoors in the streets of his city, ‘a photographer without a magazine behind him is like a farmer without fields’

and many more were all introduced to this world

50-60s

The structured formality of the 1950s designs gave way to a more youthful look and the body was liberated from constricting undergarments and corsetry. New designers and photographers emerged, their work showcased in magazines such as Queen (relaunched 1957) and Nova (launched 1965).

Italian fashion style began to be known over the world, the main fashion centres included Napoli Milan and Rome. Milan was more important due to it being the location of fashion publishing. It was also the years when a new type of model emerged. Models became icons and their faces began to be recognised by everyone. The first to become famous were twiggy (photographed by Avedon) and Jean Shrimpton.

Photographers which inaugurated this tendence included:

David Bailey – Employed to revamp the ‘Young Idea’ section of British vogue. Has a Documentary approach to his work, and much like other photographers at the time, turned teenage models such as Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton into international stars. The embodiment of Swinging London, the mood was captured in Michelangelo Antonioni’s film ‘Blowup’ (1966). Famous due to his portraits of The Rolling Stones, The Beatles, Andy Warhol, and Catherine Deneuve. Described a fashion photograph simply as ‘a portrait of someone wearing a dress’. His work shows the transformative power of the camera lens.

Terence Donovan – Worked in London for both masculine and feminine fashion, used innovative locations and techniques. Set the trend for positioning fashion models in stark and gritty urban environments and he often had the models adapt adventurous poses.

Brian Duffy – Famous for his portrait and fashion photography

Together they created the visual component of the so called ‘Swinging London’ Party, have fun, ambitions and make love. The 60s was an explosion of forms, colours and hippy styles, fashion evolved towards practicality, with the invention of jeans.

1966 onwards, exotic fabrics clashing patterns and colours were boldly combined. Penelope Tree’s unconventional looks made her the ideal model for the hippy fashions popular in the latter part of the decade.

70-80s

In the 70s, photographers continued to test the limits of acceptable fashion imagery. They engaged with society’s changing attitudes towards femininity and sexuality, and the potentially controversial themes of religion and violence often informed their work.

The notion of ideal beauty broadened in mainstream magazines with the more regular use of black and androgynous models. Deborah Turbeville and Sarah Moon were both former models and their engagement with the female form was distinct from that of their male counterparts. Their contemplative images provided female perspectives on the themes of beauty and sexual objectification.

A time of liberation, was very much reflected in the fashion photographs from that era. This era was all about pushing boundaries and challenging traditions as the models become more uninhibited. Helmut Newton became the renowned photographer during this time. Taking risqué and experimental photographs on the streets, in hotels etc.

Most important names of these years included

Helmut Newton - presented an aggressive and erotic image of women, while always keeping an ironic tone.

Sarah Moon – considered the first impressionist in the world of fashion photography

The pret-a-porter exploded. Fashion became a real industry for a wider public and we assist to the multiplication of magazines and advertisings.

Herb Ritts – photographed CK, Versace and Armani collections, also famous for his Richard Gere’s portraits

Gian Paolo Barbieri – signed the first vogue cover of the Italian edition in 1965, made numerous campaign for Valentino, Armani, Ferre, and Versace. He created darkly provocative images, which focused less on garments and more on the character of women beneath. (Guy Bourdin also took part in this style)

80s

New style publications aimed at both sexes emerged as a counterpoint to the airbrushed perfection of the major glossy magazines. They featured articles on modern music, culture and emerging trends at the time. The pages populated with figures representing alternative types of beauty who were often not professional models.

Portraits by Steve Johnson of punks and New Wave youth appeared in i-D magazine. The images became known as ‘straight ups’ as they showed the figure in full. The approach garnered many imitators, keen to capture personal and innovative street fashion.

90s

The shabby and minimalistic style explodes, In America appeared the term ‘heroin chic’ which referred to the phenomenon of photographing pale and emaciated models. An example could be the Ck campaign with Kate Moss as Protagonist and Mario Sorrenti as photographer.

Leading exponents of this naturalistic documentary approach to fashion photography included Corinne Day, David Sims, Craig McDean and Jason Evans. The centre of their work lay an interest in everyday life and real people, individuality and uniqueness was celebrated.

Modern day

Today the world of fashion photography is too wide to try to make a synthesis. However, it has become a massive success whether in the context of commercialism or art it is in high demand. The borders between art, fashion photography and commercials are fading. Fashion photography has never existed in a vacuum, photographers have continually pushed boundaries, and the tension between artistic and commercial demands has generated creativity and technical innovation. Fashion shoots or advertisements, both types of images reflect contemporary culture, world events, and the dramatic shifts in women’s roles throughout the 20th century.

The most dazzling fashion photography in present day are rich with colourful and poetic narratives, big budgets, set designers and multiple stylists are employed to create elaborate fantasies. Photographer Miles Aldridge describes the process alike to making a film ‘If the world were pretty enough, I’d shoot on location all the time. But the world is just not being designed with aesthetics as a priority. What I’m trying to do is take something from real life and reconstruct it in a cinematic way … condensed emotion, condensed colour, condensed light.’

Similar to how fashion designers reinvent and recycle the trends of decades’ past, photographers do just the same by looking to their forebears for inspiration. Tim Walker conjures a whimsical technicolour England, inspired by the early work of Cecil Beaton. The past century has shown the evolution of women’s fashion, dominating magazines and stores, however, in recent years more publications have been aimed towards male readers.

#020217 #research #text #radical project

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betteratbeing · 8 months

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A life practice for promoting ease | Alexander Technique New York

Alexander Technique (AT) is a holistic self-care method, acquired through learning and practicing new, specialized skills of self-awareness, organization and intention. It is known for improving people's posture and physical grace.

AT is most useful in improving the quality and comfort of everything we do while we are upright, as we are during most waking activities. The benefits of AT include better general functioning, balance and mobility, helping many people to perform everyday tasks with less effort and discomfort, and achieve better performance at work, in sports or in the arts.

AT teaches us to reduce excessive and unnecessary tension. Since tension often triggers or exacerbates pain, AT can be very helpful for managing or even eliminating chronic pain conditions.

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liposuctionbeforeandafter · 6 years

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Fitness club website

Fitness club website; Offering each exercise from yoga to combative techniques, Wello is an imaginative online wellness stage that gives live preparing more than two-way video. Think Skype, with much more perspiration included.

Exercises in gatherings of three to five are offered throughout the day, or possibly as frequently as your boutique wellness studio classes. For private sessions, customers are coordinated with coaches dependent on accessibility and individual inclinations like movement and mentor identity.

It’s an adaptable online rec center for those reluctant to forfeit a live preparing dynamic and the inspiration it gives. In any case, those a bit camera timid, be careful. You can feel somewhat uncovered in your descending puppy should the PC camera be at an unflattering point. Fitness club website.

iTrain

With a large group of downloadable wellness classes that extend from paddling to artful dance exercises, iTrain’s most noteworthy charm is that their recordings are playable sans Internet association. Which means, you can utilize the innovation on the circular, running on the Westside Highway, or anyplace else in the middle.

Recordings and MP3s are evaluated relying upon the class and aren’t refreshed routinely. What’s more, with numerous exercises to browse and different degrees of trouble, there is by all accounts an exercise for everybody.

The sound guidance for rec center exercises is a special reward, presenting portions like new treadmill schedules to break you out of your 9 mph trench. However, we do wish we could supplant the mushy music they incorporate with our very own siphon up playlist.

Gaiam TV

A branch of yogi way of life mark Gaiam, Gaiam TV is a “cognizant media” outlet that offers instructional yoga recordings as well as home to common wellbeing, nourishment, and otherworldliness fragments. It resembles the National Archives for solid sorts.

It tends to be seen on PCs, mobiles, and TVs with a HDMI line. With scenes by wellbeing illuminators like Deepak Chopra, you’ll need to get free access on all gadgets conceivable. However, don’t commit our error and get so fascinated in the programming it allows for your exercise.

For that you can look over a huge pool of recordings (new and old) driven by family unit yogi names like Rodney Yee and Shiva Rea, just to give some examples.

Lionsgate BeFit

Lionsgate BeFit is a free (truly, free) 90-day add up to body circuit and broadly educating exercise framework that is elite to YouTube. Facilitated by Samantha Clayton and Garret Amerine, portions incorporate quality, cardio, adaptability, yoga, and high power drills.

On the off chance that 90 days appear to be too long to submit, the channel additionally offers smaller than usual exercise fragments driven by top pick coaches like Jillian Michaels, Mary Helen Bowers, and Denise Austin, which are refreshed day by day. The main catch is that BeFit is advertisement bolstered, so if mark committed exercises aren’t your thing, at that point BeFit presumably isn’t either.

The recently appeared BeFit Go portion on the BeFit channel merits a look. With HIIT sections intended for use on mobiles and tablets, it’s conceivable to get your HIIT in wherever, at whatever point. Be that as it may, don’t figure you won’t get some undesired consideration doing leg lifts alone in Washington Square Park. Fitness club website.

MyBOD Wellness

This is live, one-on-one instructing over webcam—and much more reasonable than individual preparing. Established by long-lasting Pilates teacher Denise Posnak; the online exercise framework is particular to yoga and Pilates, except for one Alexander Technique class. (Barry’s Bootcamp darlings ought to sit this one out.)

We’ll be straightforward, the Skype exercise can feel uneasy; (prompt boards with somebody gazing back at your from the screen), so you need to make due. The upside is that MyBOD Wellness convey criticism and commitment with a teacher, and in this way responsibility.

The site’s program of nine female mentors neglects to flaunt any huge, VIP names. Be that as it may, educators with foundations in move and CrossFit bring knowledge; and an interesting instructing style to this inventive program. Fitness club website.

Every day Burn

From cardio move to iron weight sessions; Daily Burn offers a wide assortment of successful; sweat-inciting classes driven by a varied cast of previous star competitors like snowboarder; Cody Story (presented above) and in-line skater Eitan Kramer.

In spite of the fact that sections are only occasionally refreshed; the exercises are deliberately developed and keeping pace with what you’d get at say, your luxury rec center. Be that as it may, at just $10 every month; Daily Burn costs a small amount of what you’d spend for a rec center enrollment in NYC. The exercises can get exceptionally warmed; so try to put a towel down, so you don’t leave your floor dribbling in perspiration.

To sweeten the deal even further, the site additionally offers a nourishment area to kick begin weight reduction; so it’s a strong program in case you’re searching for something balanced.

Fitness club website

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Fitness club website

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halsteadproperty · 7 years

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Baby, It’s Cold Outside: Finding Winter Adventure and Fun in and around Montclair!

By Amelie Tseng, Lic. R.E. Salesperson in our Montclair office

Well, it looks like both the holiday season and the winter weather has double whammied us once again! Between all the decorating, baking, hosting, eating, drinking, celebrating…oh, and eating again, it’s always a challenge to find ways to motivate beyond the couch. But with kids home from school and grown-ups taking some much-needed time off, the “down time” at home can sometimes get all too cozy and downright sedentary. Ok, I’m all for being a homebody, but sometimes, I just need a blast of fresh air and a bit of leg stretching beyond the walk to the car door or bus. So, if you are searching for some winter fun and adventure in and around Montclair, the following is a short list of mostly free activities that I have enjoyed with family and friends since my move to this wonderful community over 20 years ago. Feel free to add your favorite fun activities and share:

Holiday Lights Spectacular

Essex Country Turtle Back Zoo

This annual holiday lights spectacular runs every night through January 1 between 5pm-9pm (closed Dec 24th and 25th). Stroll through the zoo and experience a bit of magic, for free!

Paterson Great Falls National Historical Park

72 McBride Avenue, Paterson, NJ

For many years, I’ve heard that one of the largest waterfalls in America sits practically in my backyard, just 15 minutes away from Montclair in Paterson, NJ. I’ve spent many hours driving to see Niagara Falls, and even Bushkill Falls, the “Niagara of Pennsylvania,” but it wasn’t until last year that I finally took a look for myself, and all I can say is WOW! The waterfalls are most definitely worth the visit. The site was selected by Alexander Hamilton to be the first planned industrial city and the home of the first water powered cotton spinning mills, among many other historical facts. Although the visitor’s center is closed for the season, and the parking lot is under construction, the falls are free and open to the public. To view the falls, there are a series of small footbridges overlooking the gorge. It is truly spectacular!

Ice Skating Galore

Edgemont Park Pond

Edgemont Park Pond, on Valley Road, is an absolute “must” visit. If the weather cooperates and the pond is frozen over, ice skating (or ice walking if you don’t have your own skates) is a wonderful tradition. But, if it’s not quite cold enough, Clary Anderson (on Chestnut) or Floyd Hall Arena (on MSU’s campus) offer indoor ice-skating option.

A Walk in the Park

Explore the marked trails, or go off trail, to discover the spectacular views of NYC from Mills Reservation (entrance on Normal Avenue, past MSU), or Eagle Rock Reservation (parking available by Highlawn Pavilion).

You can also discover the “secret” entrance to Alonso Bonsal Nature Preserve (just off Riverside Drive by Alexander Avenue). Tip: a walkway between two private homes leads to a wooden footbridge over a stream to over 20 acres of small trails.

BYO Sleighs and Tubes

At first snowfall, there’s no better way to enjoy a bit of winter wonderland than sliding down a snowy hill, and there are many in and around Montclair. Some favorite places we’ve enjoyed include the hill just north of the Iris Gardens (on Upper Mountain Avenue) or behind Northeast Elementary School (Grove Street). Need some beginner slopes? Head to Brookdale Park.

Let’s Escape Inside

The last few years, this has become a new fun tradition for our family and friends to get together and exercise our brain muscles. If you like puzzles and clues, you have one hour to work with your group to “escape the room” and in some cases, a series of rooms. There are quite a few that have popped up in our area over the last few years. Our group loved their experiences at Last Minute Escape (409 Bloomfield Avenue) and the Amazing Escape Room (20 Lackawanna Plaza), but I also have heard that Adventure Rooms (119 Grove Street) is a blast as well.

Have a Ball of Fun

Sometimes we need to be reminded of the fun that can be had with some of our old school standbys, and for my family, going bowling is a great way to spend an afternoon especially when the weather outside isn’t cooperating. It doesn’t matter how good we are or not, it’s always more fun than the last time we bowled. Options in our area are limited. Eagle Rock Lanes (424 Eagle Rock Avenue) is the only bowling area in our immediate vicinity now that Van Houghten Lanes has closed.

A Little Class Act

One of the longest-running community offerings that many folks don’t seem to know about or have considered taking advantage of is the Montclair Public Library’s Adult School. Did you know hundreds of classes and activities are offered throughout the year? Everything from arts & crafts, career development, culinary arts, computers & technology, personal growth, health & wellness, music, books, film & theater, lectures/history & culture to trips & outings. They run during the day and evenings, some are only one session or up to seven. And, the biggest bonus for Montclair residents is that any class offered at the library location is FREE. You just need to register and pay a $25 fee for the year. I’ve enjoyed meeting our neighbors while taking French and Spanish classes, learning Photoshop as well as a bit of knitting and jewelry making techniques. Registration begins on January 8th and classes begin on January 22nd. You can check out the classes and register here.

Ok, folks. I hope this provides a little inspiration as you celebrate the holidays and are gearing up for the winter season. Wishing everyone a very happy holidaze!

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