“Artists In Their New York Studios – Circa 1960,” a Series of Artist's Portraits in Gelatin Silver Estate Prints by Celebrated Time/Life Photographer Ben Martin Now on View at Artplex Gallery.

Ben Martin (1930-2017) covered wars, fashion, politics, arts, business and sports for Time, Life, Fortune, People and Sports Illustrated for thirty-three years. He covered Martin Luther King during the Selma to Montgomery Civil Rights March, took the infamous sweaty five-o'clock shadow photograph of Richard Nixon during the Kennedy-Nixon TV debates in 1960 that Nixon claimed cost him the election, and photographed Time’s now famous “Swinging London” cover story. He photographed major cover essays on the 25th anniversary of D-Day in Normandy and 40th anniversaries of Pearl Harbor and Hiroshima, the Mozambique civil war from both the rebel and Portuguese sides and an arctic expedition to the North Pole. His photograph of President John F. Kennedy’s funeral led to a Life magazine cover, and his coverage of Pope Paul’s trip to the Holy Land was a cover feature in Time.

Born Benjamin Rush Martin III in Salisbury, North Carolina September 16, 1930, he became fascinated by photography at the age of eight when his father, a newspaperman, gave him a bakelite “Univex 00” miniature box camera. At age fifteen he founded the first High School News Bureau in the nation, and became a staff photographer at the local newspaper, The Salisbury Post. At age 17, he became the youngest member of the National Press Photographers Association. While attending Ohio University, he became a stringer-photographer for UPI. His photo essay on a traveling preacher brought him to the attention of celebrated photographer W. Eugene Smith and Wilson Hicks, executive picture editor of Life, who offered him a position on the Life staff after his graduation. Henry Luce then hired him as Time’s first staff photographer in the New York Bureau.

Ben Martin is the author of Marcel Marceau: Master of Mime and co-author of A Different World: The Great Hotels of the World.

Ben was married to the actress Kathryn Leigh Scott (1971-1990), best known for her roles on legendary gothic soap opera Dark Shadows, with whom he co-founded Pomegranate Press, a book publishing company. The two remained close friends and business partners until his death February 10, 2016 at age 86.

“Ben Martin’s stunning portraits of Roy Lichtenstein, Salvador Dali, Mark Rothko, Helen Frankenthaler, Larry Rivers and Marisol Escobar, illuminate the pop art, abstract-expressionist and surrealist painters and sculptors that defined the 60s art world,” says Kathryn Leigh Scott, the photographer’s former wife and archivist.

Ben Martin’s Gelatin Silver Estate Prints Collection “Artists In Their New York Studios - circa 1960”, featuring photos of Roy Lichtenstein, Mark Rothko, Larry Rivers, Helen Frankenthaler, Marisol Escobar and Salvador Dali, are now on view in Artplex Gallery.

A selection of Ben's artworks will be featured in the upcoming exhibition Photosynthetic from May 13 - June 9, 2023, with an opening reception on Saturday, May 13 from 4 - 6 PM!

For more information:
https://www.artplexgallery.com/en/news_detail-140
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/photosynthetic-tickets-596276347607

Artplex Gallery is an internationally established contemporary art gallery with partner galleries in Zurich, Cologne and Los Angeles. Artplex Gallery specializes in high-quality original contemporary art representing a broad spectrum of major international artists.

Artplex Gallery
7377 Beverly Blvd
Los Angeles, CA 90036
art@artplexgallery.com | PH: 1- 323-452-9628
www.artplexgallery.com
Mon - Sat 10am - 6pm | Sun 12 - 6pm

Contact: Kathryn Leigh Scott, PH: 1-310-526-3636, kathrynleighscott@gmail.com

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