Recently in In Memoriam Category

NY Times Liz Taylor Obit Written by Dead Writer

An oddity floating around the internets today: The obituary run by the New York Times today for Liz Taylor was written by Mel Gussow. The catch? The obit has been on the shelf so long, that Gussow had in fact himself died 6 years ago. … MORE

Jay Colton: A Remembrance

Longtime Time magazine photo editor Jay Colton passed away suddenly last weekend at the age of 57. Jay had a remarkable history as a magazine maker, and was very well-known and respected in the industry. We asked his friend and former co-worker Arthur Hochstein to write a remembrance.

Photograph of Jay Colton by William Coupon.
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Photojournalist Charles Moore, R.I.P.

The New York Times carries the obituary of noted 50s and 60s photojournalist Charles Moore, who passed away last week at the age of 79. A native Alabaman, Moore was a frequent photographer of the civil rights movement in the South, and his pictures in Life magazine were among the most influential and iconic of that era. His most famous photographs include Martin Luther King Jr. being arrested, and the fire hose and dog attacks on civil rights marchers in Birmingham in 1963. Moore's 2002 book, Powerful Days: The Civil Rights Photography of Charles Moore, is an incredible collection of the best of those images. There's also a slideshow of his work on the NPR website.… MORE

Happy Birthday Elvis!

Friday, January 8th is the 75th birthday of The King, Elvis Presley. Elvis appeared on countless magazine covers while alive, and probably even more after he died in 1977. Interestingly enough, we've been unable to turn up a cover of Time or Life that Elvis appeared on while still living, although he did make it on the cover of People a few years before his death. … MORE

"One Beautiful Picture After Another"

At the end of an already tough month, word came yesterday that photographer Roy DeCarava had died. Trained originally as a painter, DeCarava was the first African-American to win a Guggenheim Fellowship, and elevated photography of primarily African-American subjects to more than just a documentary endeavor--the power and intimate emotion of his images is undeniable. For his work in magazines, Lester Sloan wrote, "DeCarava's approach to photojournalism, and his choice of subjects, set him apart at a time when the image-makers were encroaching on the turf of the writers." The Times' Lens Blog has a slideshow of a small part of his work, and copies of his monograph "Roy DeCarava: A Retrospective" and his collaboration with Langston Hughes, "The Sweet Flypaper of Life" are must-get.

Goodbye, Mr. Penn

By GREG POND

How do you say goodbye to someone you never met?

I never knew Irving Penn. But I'm going to miss him. He was a constant, important presence in my life for many years.

I've looked for Irving Penn's pictures in American Vogue every month for as long as I can remember. I looked for the man himself on the street in New York too. A photographer friend once told me a story about Mr. Penn, a myth no doubt, one of those artist-as-God stories, related in a hushed voice, but I liked the story, so I chose to believe it. … MORE

Lou Dorfsman: Remembering the Tiffany Network's Elegant Eye

Before it was called branding and contracted out to design firms that specialize in imagemaking on a global scale, there was the very cool job of corporate art director. Lou Dorfsman designed every aspect of CBS's image, from the sign system for the Eero Saarinen "Black Rock" headquarters to the ashtrays that sat on his set for Walter Cronkite. Having access to the deep pockets of CBS chairman William Paley and a partner in corporate style with Frank Stanton, president of CBS, Dorfsman created an elegant visual image for the network that was recognized for 40 years both in the home and in the boardroom.   … MORE

Tribute to Barbara Fierros

With great sadness we honor prop stylist Barbara Fierros who passed away on August 1st after losing her near 2-year battle with cancer. Many in the magazine and advertising communities are grieving the loss as so many of us were honored recipients of her great talent and beautiful spirit. … MORE