The Times of Bill Cunningham, Illustration by Ruben Toledo

The Times of Bill Cunningham is a film by Mark Bozek. Mark and Amon take a moment to converse about the inception, journey and process of taking Mark’s film to the silver screen.

Show Notes

• One minute interview
• Fox Style News
• QVC
• This is not a drill…
• Bill Cunningham 
• Carnegie Hall Studio
• Suzette Cimino
• Beta Camera
• Bernadine Morris
• His camera is pencil
• Be quiet more
• Diana Vreeland
• Duke and Duchess of Windsor
• Isabel Toledo
• Ruben Toledo 
• Bill Cunningham New York 
• Editing is the Art of Omission 
• Archive of 3 Million Photographs distilled to 25,500 Photographs then curated to 515 Photographs
• Sarah Jessica Parker
• Answers exponentially more questions 
• Learning more about Bill
• Anna Wintour
• Weegee
• Museum of the City of New York
• ICP
• Harold Chapman
• Incredible New Yorker
• Fashion Historian
• Trish Jarvis Simonson 
• Protect Bill’s legacy 
• Orangeburg, NY
• “Didn’t know Armani from Salami…”
• “If they don’t pay you then they can’t tell you what to do.”
• Lead with heart and passion 
• Up at 4am
• The New York Times
• Born in a Funeral Home in Detroit 
• Cinema Art Centre in Huntington, Long Island
• AIDS Epidemic 
• Willi Smith
• Pat Cleveland 
• Great voice of New York
• Wrote voice over script
• Augusten Burroughs
• Sellevision
• Running with Scissors 
• Bradley Cooper
• Wedding Crashers
• Joy
• Barry Diller
• David O. Russell
• First Time Filmmaker
• Scar Tissue 
• Research and Proving the Research
• Get it right
• Tell a good story 
• Ezinma 
• Discovery
• Reached out to Moby
• Lift Me Up
• Taking Shots in the Dark
• Lee Strasburg
• Butler to the Stars
• Webster College, St. Louis 
• Ruthless, Focus and Passion about the work
• Toukie Smith 
• Profit and Loss Statement 
• Incredibly Lonely at the Top
• Lincoln Center
• New York Film Festival
• André Leon Talley
• Greenwich Entertainment 
• Steven Jones 
• Parsons
• Xenon
• Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis
• Iris Apfel
• Never Stop, Stay Curious
• Relentless Curious 
• Nostradamus of fashion

Stay Up to Speed with The Times of Bill Cunningham

Website: https://www.billcunninghammovie.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bcunninghamfilm/

NYC FANS: Catch Q&As with THE TIMES OF BILL CUNNINGHAM director Mark Bozek

Film Synopsis

Narrated by Sarah Jessica Parker, The Times of Bill Cunningham features incredible photographs chosen from over 3 million previously unpublicized images and documents from iconic street photographer and fashion historian Bill Cunningham. Told in Cunningham’s own words from a recently unearthed 1994 interview, the photographer chronicles, in his customarily cheerful and plainspoken manner, moonlighting as a milliner in France during the Korean War, his unique relationship with First Lady Jackie Kennedy, his four decades at The New York Times and his democratic view of fashion and society.

Director’s Statement

I began work on this film on the day of Bill Cunningham’s death in 2016 when I discovered a long-lost interview I had done with him from 1994.
Ten minutes into viewing the interview, I knew this would be my first film.

Eighteen months after discovering the interview, I was given rare access to Cunningham’s remarkable archive of photographs and documents. Not only did Cunningham photograph his beloved New York City for more than six decades but he safeguarded – and in fact slept on – his treasure trove of photographs and documents. His previously unpublished archive will likely become one of New York City’s most important.

– Mark Bozek

Bill Cunningham

William John “Bill” Cunningham Jr. (March 13, 1929 – June 25, 2016) was an American fashion photographer and fashion historian for The New York Times, known for his candid street photography. He began taking candid photographs on the streets of New York City, and his work came to the attention of The New York Times with a 1978 capture of Greta Garbo in an unguarded moment. Cunningham reported for the paper from 1978 to 2016. During that time he never missed one single week of reporting.

Cunningham was born into an Irish Catholic family and raised in Boston. He never lost his Boston accent. He had two sisters and an older brother. His parents were religious and ran a strict household. He had his first exposure to the fashion world as a stock boy in Bonwit Teller’s Boston Store. He later said his interest in fashion began in church: “I could never concentrate on Sunday church services because I’d be concentrating on women’s hats.” After attending Harvard University on scholarship for two months, he dropped out in 1948 and moved to New York City at the age of 19, where he worked again at Bonwit Teller, this time in the advertising department.

2. Bill Cunningham, Paris, 1970. Photo credit: Jean Luce Hure. Courtesy of Greenwich Entertainment.

Not long after, Cunningham quit his job and struck out on his own, making hats under the name “William J.” He was drafted during the Korean War and was stationed in France, where he had his first exposure to French fashion. After serving a tour in the U.S. Army, he returned to New York in 1953 and his work as a milliner. In 1958, a New York Times critic wrote that he had “cornered the face-framing market with some of the most extraordinarily pretty cocktail hats ever imagined.” He also worked for Chez Ninon, a couture salon that sold copies of designs by Chanel, Givenchy and Dior. His clients in the 1950s included Marilyn Monroe, Katharine Hepburn and future First Lady Jacqueline Bouvier. Encouraged by his clients, Cunningham started writing, first for Women’s Wear Daily and then for the Chicago Tribune. He closed his hat shop in 1962. Following the assassination of President Kennedy in 1963, Jacqueline Kennedy sent Cunningham a red Balenciaga suit she had bought at Chez Ninon. He dyed it black and she wore it to the funeral.

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This week we headed to the Lower East Side to converse with ICP’s Curator-at-Large Isolde Brielmaier. In this episode we talk about the Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good solo exhibition, critical engagement with broad communities and the history of imaging.  

The opening exhibitions are:

Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good—the photographer and filmmaker’s first US solo exhibition and the US premiere of several photographs, video, and installation works exploring new ways of interpreting Black identity today

Part of the exhibit “Tyler Mitchell: I Can Make You Feel Good.” (Photo by Amon Focus)

Tyler Mitchell, Untitled (Group Hula Hoop), 2019.

CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop—a behind-the-scenes glimpse into how iconic portraits came to be through four decades of contact sheets from major photographers documenting the hip-hop movement

A collection of Ricky Powell slides in the exhibit “CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop,” (Photo by Amon Focus)

Photos in the exhibit “CONTACT HIGH: A Visual History of Hip-Hop,” with photos of the LES on the upper level. (Photo by Amon Focus)

James Coupe: Warriors—a new series of moving image works that algorithmically categorize museum visitors and, using deepfake technology, inserts them into specific scenes from the 1979 cult classic film The Warriors

© James-Coupe

The Lower East Side: Selections from the ICP Collection—drawn from ICP’s rich holdings of mid-20th-century works, it examines the role of images in enduring narratives about the Lower East Side.

Photos in the exhibit “The Lower East Side: Selections from the ICP Collection” (Photo by Amon Focus)

Photos in the exhibit “The Lower East Side: Selections from the ICP Collection” with photos of the CONTACT HIGH on the Lower level. (Photo by Amon Focus)

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About Isolde Brielmaier 

Official Website: https://www.isoldeb.com

Instagram: @isolde_brielmaier

For over a decade Isolde has worked internationally as a curator and cultural strategist, collaborating with noted contemporary artists, art institutions, companies and individuals to position them in the center of culture via headlining projects, cultural programming, social impact initiatives and partnerships that contextualize each entity in meaningful ways to drive buzz and engagement. Her diverse experience and broad reach highlights her ability to integrate and customize a global aesthetic into multiple platforms including art, design, architecture, technology, scholarship, fashion, publishing, public and private real estate as well as philanthropy.

Currently, Isolde is the inaugural Curator-at-Large at the International Center of Photography (ICP) in NYC. After six years as Executive Director and Curator of Arts, Culture & Community at Westfield World Trade Center, she is now the national advisor for Unbail-Rodamco-Westfield (URW), a role in which she advises on artist projects and installations, cultural events, strategic and community partnerships across the organization. Isolde is also Professor of Critical Studies in Tisch’s Department of Photography, Imaging and Emerging Media at New York University, and continues to work on a range of cultural projects that bridge both the public and private sectors including commission based projects for Amazon Web Services | Smithsonian and the Peninsula Hotel Group. She serves as Editor at Large at Air Mail, Graydon Carter’s new media venture and speaks regularly on topics related to art, culture and social impact.

Isolde has been profiled and featured in the NY Times, the Wall Street Journal, Elle, Vogue, Modern Luxury, WNYC Radio, CNN, Cultured, and Whitewall among others.

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About ICP
The International Center of Photography is the world’s leading institution dedicated to photography and visual culture. Cornell Capa founded ICP in 1974 to champion “concerned photography”—socially and politically minded images that can educate and change the world. Through our exhibitions, education programs, community outreach, and public programs, ICP offers an open forum for dialogue about the power of the image. Visit icp.org to learn more.

Highlights of ICP’s new center include:

• 40,000 square feet of exhibition, education, and administration space
• Educational programs at all levels from youth to adult via continuing education classes, two part-time programs, three full-time one-year certificate programs, and an MFA program in association with Bard College
• A research library featuring over 22,000 books, artist files, and periodicals
• An expanded shop with a comprehensive photography book selection and imaginatively curated objects and apparel
• A new café offering pastries and sandwiches prepared by Café D’Avignon and featuring La Colombe coffee and tea
• Extended general hours: Monday through Sunday 11 AM–7 PM; open until 9 PM on Thursdays; closed on Tuesdays
• New admission fees: Adults $16; Seniors (62 and Over), Students (with Valid ID), Military, Visitors with Disabilities $12(caregivers are free); SNAP/EBT card holders $3
• Free admission: ICP members and ICP students; all visitors 18 years old and under
• Pay by donation hours: Thursdays from 5 to 9 PM and the last Saturday of the month from 11 AM to 2 PM

ICP’s new visual identity, designed by Pentagram, will launch with the opening of the new space. The logo harkens back to the stylized ICP acronym on the letterhead Cornell Capa used to announce ICP in 1974. Updated for the 21st century, the three letters (ICP) can now take an infinite number of forms, reflecting the countless and critical ways that photographers frame our world today.

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Collecting New York’s Stories: Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious exhibition opens today at the Museum of the City of New York. Yesterday, Sean Corcoran, MCNY Curator of Prints & Photographs took a moment to highlight the gallery of historic and contemporary photographs showcased with New York Said’s Amon Focus. The audio interview can be heard below:

Featured here are a few of the photographs from the Collecting New York’s Stories: Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious exhibition which opens January 22, 2020 at the Museum of the City of New York.

Richard Sandler, CC Train, 1985

© Richard Sandler, CC Train, New York, 1985

Richard Sandler is a street photographer and documentary filmmaker. He has directed and shot eight non-fiction films, including “The Gods of Times Square,” “Brave New York” and “Radioactive City.”

Jeffrey Henson Scales, Buy Black, 1986–1992

© Jeffrey Henson Scales, Buy Black, 1986–1992 (From series: “House’s Barbershop, Harlem”)

Jeffrey Henson Scales is a photographer, illustrator, editor, and is a photography editor at The New York Times. Currently there he is the photography editor of the Sunday Review, and the Food sections.He is also co-editor of the annual, Year In Pictures section for both print and online editions, as well as an illustrator for the newspaper. He curates The New York Times, photography column, “Exposures.” His most recent book, “House,” documents life in a legendary Harlem barbershop over the course of six years, and his most recent project, “Soho’s New Geeks” appeared in The New York Times Sunday Style section in 2017.

Janette Beckman, RUN DMC & Posse, 1984

© Janette Beckman, RUN DMC & Posse, Hollis, Queens, 1984

Janette Beckman is a British documentary photographer who currently lives in New York City.^[1] Beckman describes herself as a documentary photographer.^[2] While she produces a lot of work on location (such as the cover of The Police album Zenyatta Mondatta, taken in the middle of a forest in the Netherlands), she is also a studio portrait photographer. Her work has appeared on records for the major labels, and in magazines including Esquire, Rolling Stone, Glamour, Italian Vogue, The Times, Newsweek, Jalouse,^[3] Mojo and others.

Erik Falkensteen, Two Men and a Shadow, 1965

© Erik Falkensteen, Two Men and a Shadow, Lower Manhattan near the Hudson River

Born in Denmark, Erik Falkensteen came to NYC in the 1960’s it was still really NYC. He began a photo odyssey, which took him from the streets 1960’s-70’s Manhattan, to a very recent post-Jim Crow south, to Eastern Europe and Africa. Erik shot everything from everyday New Yorkers, to African presidents (Jomo Kenyatta, Julius Nyerere), folk singers (Pete Seeger) the Berlin Wall, and strange little boys named Kimathi.

Martha Cooper, Boy Jumping from Fire Escape, 1978

© Martha Cooper, Boy Jumping from Fire Escape, Lower East Side, 1978

From 1977 until 1980, Martha Cooper worked as a staff photographer for the New York Post. Between daily assignments, Cooper began to document unsupervised children playing amidst the rubble and disintegrating neighborhoods of New York (primarily the Lower East Side). The photographs focus on the activities of children playing and being creative on New York City streets, and largely depict groups of children building toys or playing with found objects in the days before video games and computers. In today’s day and age when unsupervised play in city streets is a rarity, these photographs reflect a time that was not so long ago, but a radically different approach to social norms and child rearing. The Museum of the City of New York recently acquired a selection of twenty photographs from this series for its permanent collection.

Walter Rosenblum, Boy on Roof, 1938

© Walter Rosenblum, Boy on Roof, Pitt Street, New York, 1938

Walter Rosenblum has spent over sixty years making photographs that celebrate the intimacies of family, the innocence and optimism of youth, and the dignity of poor people. Early in his career, he was influenced by the work of Paul Strand and Lewis Hine, both of whom were mentors of the Photo League in New York. At the age of nineteen, Rosenblum began a longtime association with this organization, which was dedicated to socially concerned documentary photography. He remained active in the Photo League, as chair of the exhibition committee, as a league officer, and as the editor of its journal, Photo Notes, until the league disbanded in 1952.

Joe Conzo, JDL of the Cold Crush Brothers, 1981

© Joe Conzo, JDL of the Cold Crush Brother at the Skate Key Roller Rink, The Bronx, 1981

Born and raised in the Bronx, Joe Conzo acquired a flair for photography at the age of 9 while attending the Agnes Russell School on the campus of Columbia University; later, advancing those skills at the School of Visual Arts in New York. He grew up at the heels of his grandmother – a dynamic leader and passionate activist within the minority community of the South Bronx – the late Dr. Evelina Antonetty. His father, Joe Conzo Sr., was a long-time confidant and historian for the late “King of Latin Music” Tito Puente. Exposure to these “politically and culturally charged” worlds had a profound effect on how he viewed his environment through the lens of a camera.

Bruce Davidson, Subway, 1980

© Bruce Davidson, Subway, New York City, 1980

In 1980 Bruce Davidson began photographing the New York subway system, venturing regularly into this intoxicating, sometimes dangerous subterranean world. At first Davidson photographed in black and white, but he soon realized color was necessary to depict the intensity of this graffiti-covered landscape. Originally published in 1986, this updated Steidl edition of Subway is printed from new scans of Davidson’s Kodachrome slides and features additional images.

“I wanted to transform the subway from its dark, degrading, and impersonal reality into images that open up our experience again to the color, sensuality, and vitality of the individual souls that ride it each day” – Bruce Davidson

More on the Exhibition

Collecting New York’s Stories: Stuyvesant to Sid Vicious features highlights drawn from the hundreds of additions to the Museum’s permanent collection over the past three years, running the gamut from the colonial era to the recent past. A gallery of historic and contemporary photographs, currently open, showcases works by both well-known and emerging artists, including Janette Beckman, Bruce Davidson, Helen Levitt, Ruddy Roye, Richard Sandler, Gail Thacker, James Van Der Zee, Harvey Wang, and many others. A companion gallery, opening January 22, 2020, presents original drawings by long-time New Yorker illustrator Saul Steinberg alongside gifts of garments, posters, decorative arts objects, and many other artifacts speaking to the everyday life of the city. Together, these beautiful, eclectic, and poignant images and objects illuminate the compelling and layered identity of New York and its stories.

Museum of the City of New York
1220 Fifth Ave at 103rd St., Open Daily 10am–6pm

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