Hugh Bell

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frame|Born: June 22, 1927 in New York, NY ] Hugh Bell (born 22 June 1927) is an American Photographer born in the west Indies who was raised in Harlem, New York. He is best known for his Jazz photographs from the 50's and 60's. He has photographed fashion and still life images for Esquire, Ebony, Essence, American Visions, among many others as well as taking part in Edward Steichen's "The Family of Man" project.

Biography

Early years

Born in New York in 1927 to parents who emigrated from the Caribbean island of St. Lucia, Bell is an artist who, while never belonging to a single movement or group, is fully of his time. After graduating from New York University in 1952 with a bachelor's degree in Journalism and Cinematic Art, Bell was invited by Edward Steichen to participate in the Museum of Modern Art's landmark exhibition, "The Family of Man." Over a period of three years, Steichen edited two million possible photographs to arrive at 503 final images representing 293 photographers from 68 nations. After opening in New York on January 26, 1955, the exhibition continued to 69 venues in 37 foreign countries, making it one of the most successful photographic exhibitions of all time. Its purpose, in Steichen's words, was to seek "photographs covering the gamut of human relations, particularly the hard-to-find photographs of the everydayness in the relationships of man to himself, to his family, to the community, and to the world we live in.

Photography

His Jazz Photography

Bell's image, "Hot Jazz" (1952), not only satisfied Steichen's call for photography's humanistic imperative but also embodied the virtuosity of his personal vision. Through the power of detail, "Hot Jazz" transmits the intensity and passion of performance and the excitement of hearing what was then considered the era's most radical musical form. Seen as shadowy silhouettes, each musician is absorbed in his own instrument yet also connected to a shared moment of communal creation. If we read the musicians' body language, we realize that this is an instant of complete fusion between man and music: the pulse inhabits their being, there body is at the service of the beat. More than hear the music fill the space, we can feel it infuse every part of our own being.From the 1940s onwards, Bell's photography continued to nurture the presence of what Roland Barthes has named the punctum-the emotional response to a detail that attracts or distresses the viewer-within his photographic production. In the "Jazz Giants" series, he communicates the fervor of the music, from living in the embrace of its spotlight to the experiencing the ruin of its aftermath. His candid portraits of icons like Billie Holiday, Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Tony Scott, Louis Armstrong, Sarah Vaughan and Lester Young are both a tribute to there generation as well as a piercing revelation of there emotional truth.

His Film career

Perhaps it is while working as assistant cameraman on the film "Jazz Dance" (1954), with the celebrated documentary filmmaker Richard Leacock, that Bell developed his talent at capturing life movement and using light to reveal psychological states. Leacock, one of the founders of cinema verite, celebrated ordinary life in its unbridled spontaneity and unscripted density by using a hand-held camera. Bell succeeds at moving beyond the technical limitations of both film and photography by combining the moving aspect of one with the episodic treatment of the other.

His Spain series

In his Spain series (1956), he depicts both the fluidity and tranquility of life on the island of Ibiza-men and women caught in moments of intimate exchange, selling their wares at the market, sitting on the beachfront, having siestas in the shade or a rendezvous in smoky cafes, transporting rolls of fresh bread or freshly slaughtered bulls, and walking through familiar streets and passageways. Through and accumulation of single images, almost ethnographic in their attention to 'exotic' and ordinary detail, we are transported into a broad narrative of a mode of life that no longer exists, this culture rotted in traditional values.

Hugh Bell Today

Still working in his studio in New York City's Union Square, Bell's fearless pursuit of the truth in pictures has not diminished. Indeed, his work continues to confirm that every instant may yield its essence if visualized photographically. With this objective always in mind, Bell continues to create eloquent images that capture life's fleeting beauty in all its unabashed complexity. His photographic oeuvre reveals the spirit of an authentic and passionate artist compelled to communicate the multiple realities of humanity through the power of the camera's eye. Undoubtedly, this life-long search will lead bell to discover perfect and poetic moments of truth that have not yet come to light.