The New York he knew
By Paul Haist
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By the time he was 15 years old Herb Snitzer had lived through years that brought the world the Great Depression, the Holocaust and World War II.
"So, I was what you might call a serious fellow," said the photographer who may be best known today for his intimate and iconic portraits of the masters of American jazz in the mid-20th century.
When Snitzer comes to Portland this month in connection with an exhibit of his work at Guy Swanson's Photographic Image Gallery downtown, it won't be Satchmo, Dizzy, Bird, the Duke or the Count at the center of the show, not this time.
It will be street photography from New York City of the late 1950s and early 1960s.
"New York in the 50s was like Paris of the 20s," says Swanson. "Snitzer came out of that era, the Beat Generation."
Snitzer came to photography almost inadvertently. When serving in Korea in the early 1950s, he acquired a simple box camera made available in large numbers to servicemen then, and he began taking pictures.
After he graduated from the Philadelphia College of Art in 1957, he moved to New York City to find work as a photographer.
"I needed work, so I opened the New York phone book and randomly called the portrait photographer Arnold Newman," said Snitzer. "To my surprise, Newman gave me a job."
The job consisted mostly of schlepping around Newman's equipment on photo assignments, but Snitzer paid attention and learned techniques from the master that he has used ever since.
"For example, those who sit for photographic portraits are vulnerable to the photographer. You look into their eyes and see their souls," he said.
In a process he described as part technology and part intimate connection between photographer and subject, he said, "You can capture the essence of the sitter, and the results are remarkable."
Snitzer went on to photograph for the big slick magazines of the era: Life, Look, and The Saturday Evening Post. He shot for the news media also, including Time magazine, The New York Times and the New York Herald Tribune.
He became the photography editor and associate editor of America's then leading jazz magazine, Metronome, which provided him with an entr?e to the inner world of jazz and the opportunity to make the images for which he is best known.
But all the while that he was busy in his career, he also was immersed in the intellectually and artistically heady environment that was New York in the first and second decades after World War II.
"I moved to New York City determined to be part of the nerve of my generation," he said.
He lived and worked in New York City for what he termed "seven tightly packed and charged years."
He said the experience provided him with opportunities and situations that previously he only had dreamed about.
"I was part of that early movement of photographers who roamed the streets day and night looking for ways to express what we wanted to say about the chaos of the world in mid-20th century."
"We met at small cafes in Greenwich Village and talked about art, music, literature, dance and theater. New York City in the mid-to-late fifties was bursting with creative and highly original people," said Snitzer.
He met many people, young and old, including some of the great luminaries of photography, in addition to Newman. These included W. Eugene Smith, Gordon Parks, Cornell Capa and Edward Steichen.
"Each, in their own way, contributed to my early development as a photographer," said Snitzer.
One meeting in particular helped to shape as a photographer who also is an artist. "It was my meeting Aaron Siskind that helped turn me inward, toward the creation of images that transcended time and place," said Snitzer. "His many years of friendship and support helped me immensely, so that I could easily move between what was inside and what was outside."
The upcoming Portland exhibit Snitzer's work, entitled "The New York I Knew," comprises just 16 images made between 1958 and 1963.
"The majority of the images came about because I was working on my first book with a political writer by the name of Marya Mannes, the book entitled, 'The New York I Know,' published by Lippincott (1961).?The other photographs came about either on assignment for Life magazine or by my?street wanderings," said Snitzer.? "The photographs speak of a time long gone."
Snitzer's images are included in the collections of many museums and private individuals including the Museum of Modern Art, Houston Museum of Fine Arts and the Boston Museum of African American History. Individual collectors of Snitzer's images include Elton John, Bill Cosby, and Bill and Hillary Clinton.
Snitzer moved to St. Petersburg, Fla., in 1992 where he established a studio.
The May 18 event at the Photographic Image Gallery is free. "The New York I Knew" will be on display at the gallery May 4-27.
For more information contact the gallery by phone at 503-224-3543 or visit their Web site at www.photographicimage.com. The gallery is located at 79 SW Oak St.