Horse Latitudes

Godwin-Ternbach Museum Artist & Curator TALK: Ntombephi “Induna” Ntobela...

This is how it begins. I get phone calls and emails almost every day requesting information on our museum’s permanent collection and exhibitions. 90% of the inquiries are for our world’s fair materials. Then about 9 % inquiring about our exhibitions and collections of modernist and contemporary art. Then there’s the remaining 1% — inquiries that I’m sure I’ll never be able to answer on esoteric items hidden deep within the museum’s collective history and memory.

On March 3rd, I received an email from Andrew Lampert, Curator of Collections at Anthology Film Archives, in which he requested assistance for a preservation project they are hoping to undertake. He is in search of a short 16mm film, MISSION TO MONGO, by critic/filmmaker Jim Hoberman. The film was purchased in the late 1970s from Jim by Debby Feinstein who worked in the museum’s education department. Anthology is interested in securing the museum’s copy of the film for their grant application which is due by the end of the month. All other extant copies are in poor condition with heavy color fading and damage.

Image: Frank Oscar Larson, Johnny Guitar I, 1954. digital print scanned from film negative

Frank Oscar Larson: 1950s New York Street Stories

February 5 – May 20, 2012

Queens Museum of Art

Opening reception February 4, 2012

6:00 – 10:00 pm

Born in Greenpoint, Brooklyn of Swedish immigrant parents, Frank Oscar Larson (1896-1964) lived in Flushing, Queens most of his life. As an adult, Larson spent his days at a branch of the Empire Trust Company, working his way up through the ranks from auditor to vice-president, and spare time on weekends taking photographs of street life throughout New York City. He was an accomplished photographer who eloquently documented 1950s Chinatown, the Bowery, Hell’s Kitchen, Times Square, Central Park, and much more. An avid, empathetic observer of the life of the streets, in Larson’s eyes, the mundane often became miraculous.

Frank Oscar Larson: 1950s New York Street Stories has been compiled from thousands of negatives recently discovered in 2009 stored in Larson’s daughter-in-law’s house in Maine. His grandson, Soren, a television news camera man and producer, has been scanning and printing the 55 year old images found in over 100 envelopes filled with mostly medium format, 2-1/4 x 2-1/4″ negatives produced with his beloved Rolleiflex Automat Model 4 camera. 

Frank Oscar Larson: 1950s New York Street Stories has been curated by Louise Weinberg, Archives Manager.