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NEWS FROM THE BOSTON PUBLIC
LIBRARY 2/24/10 |
February 24, 2010
Boston Public Library,
gperille@bpl.org,
617.859.2273
Boston Public Library Exhibition
Captures Boston Neighborhoods of 1950s, 1960s
Man in the
Street: Jules Aarons Photographs Boston, 1947-1976
BOSTON – February 24, 2010 – Boston
neighborhoods figure prominently in a new photography exhibition now
open at the Boston Public Library in Copley Square. Man in the
Street: Jules Aarons Photographs Boston, 1947-1976 features the
black and white photography of Jules Aarons (1921-2008) from the
years he spent capturing images of Boston.
Death of a Ferry, Jules Aaron
The North End, West End, and South Boston
neighborhoods from the 1950s and 1960s are on display in photographs
of young girls sharing a story, teenagers hanging on a street
corner, and women talking to their neighbors. Some are gripping
images of Boston’s past like the long-gone penny ferry from East
Boston, or sites that remain familiar today like a game of pick-up
basketball in the South End.
“This exhibition demonstrates the connection
Jules Aaron had with Boston neighborhoods and the people who lived
in them,” said Aaron Schmidt, curator of the exhibition. “Jules
Aarons was a true street photographer in the tradition of Henri
Cartier-Bresson and Helen Levitt. He found visual inspiration in the
juxtaposition of people against their urban background.”
The exhibit, Man in the Street: Jules Aarons
Photographs Boston, 1947-1976 is on display in the Wiggin
Gallery at the Central Library in Copley Square through June 4.
Photography started as a hobby for Jules
Aarons, a very successful engineer and physicist who helped develop,
among other things, GPS technology. When he began photographing
seriously in 1947, he chose the streets and neighborhoods of Boston
as his subject. He was drawn to the way people in the neighborhoods
lived their public lives and the energy with which they talked,
played, and worked. He brought to his photographs a technical
mastery, artful eye and, most importantly, a deep understanding of
the neighborhoods of Boston and the people who lived there.
In 1997, the Boston Public Library began
collecting the work of Jules Aarons. The BPL now holds the largest
public collection of his work. The Print Department at the library
has made it its mission to collect the work of artists with ties to
the Boston area. Jules Aarons is one of many important artists whose
work is represented in the growing collection.
The exhibit is on display in the BPL’s
Wiggin Gallery at the Central Library in Copley Square
Monday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday,
9-5; Tuesday, Thursday, 9-7; and Sunday, 1-5.
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About the BOSTON PUBLIC LIBRARY:
For more than 160 years, the Boston Public Library has pioneered
public library service in America. Established in 1848, the Boston
Public Library was the first publicly supported municipal library in
America, the first public library to lend books, the first to have a
branch library, and the first to have a children’s room. Today, the
Boston Public Library boasts a Central Library, 26 neighborhood
branches, free wireless internet access, two unique restaurants, and
a robust web site. Each year, the Boston Public Library hosts nearly
12,000 programs, answers more than one million reference questions,
and serves millions of people. All of its programs and exhibits are
free and open to the public. At the Boston Public Library, books are
just the beginning.
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_____________________________________
Gina Perille
| Communications Manager
Boston Public Library
700 Boylston Street
Boston, MA 02116
617.859.2273 office
617.388.5690
mobile
www.bpl.org |
gperille@bpl.org
www.twitter.com/BPLBoston
www.facebook.com/bostonpubliclibrary
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