AZTAG INVITED TO EXHIBIT ITS COVER PHOTO OF THE 9/11/2001 EVENTS OF NEW YORK CITY
by Harry L. Koundakjian
Aztag
Feb 5 2008
Lebanon
Beirut’s Aztag newspaper has been invited to exhibit its cover photo
of the 9/11/2001 events of New York City.
The International Center of Photography is considering and studying
and possibly this front page will be among the over a hundred other
front pages of the world press which is in a basement exhbition hall
on 6th Avenue, in New York.
One of the most prestigious photography centers in the world is based
in New York City. It was founded in 1974 by Cornell Capa, himself
a photographer on Fifth Avenue and presented over 500 exhibitions,
bringing the work of more than 3,000 photographers and other artists
to the public in one-person and group exhibitions and has provided
thousands of classes and workshops that have enriched thousands
of students.
In 1999, the headquarters building on Fifth Avenue was sold and its
new expanded galleries, at 1133 Avenue of the Americas (6th Avenue),
provided in one location the same gallery space as the two sites
combined and bacame the headquarters of ICP’s public exhibitions
programs. The new ICP also provided an expanded store and a cafe. ICP
School is one of the world’s most extensive and best-equipped schools
of photography. It serves more than 1,500 students each year, offering
400 courses in a curriculum that ranges from dasrkroom classes to
certificate and master’s degreet programs.
Opened in 2001, the School is a large facility located at 1144 Avenue
of the Americas. Diogonally across the street from the ICP Museum
and the newly constructed New York Times newspaper’s headquarters.
The collection is strongest in its holdings of European and American
documentary photography of the 1930s to thr 1990 and comprises lagre
bodies of W. Eugene Smith, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Alfred Eisenstadt,
Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, James VanDerZee and severasl others.
But one of the most interesting selection is in the basement where
nearly 130 front pages of world newspapers are exhibited. The pictures
on their front pages, from photo agencies like The Associated Press,
Reuters, and others show the 9/11 attack in New York.
I am proud to say that of the six Arabic language newspapers, four
are from Lebanon including Al Anwar, Safir, Nahar, Moustakbel and the
French language daily L’Orient-Le Jour. The other Arabic newspaper
is from London.
The countries which participated in this are from Europe, some from
South America, some from Canadaand the Far East but most are newspapers
publshed in the United States.
The titles of nearly all neaspapers read–American Hit in Its Heart,
War on the USA, Doomsday for America, Second Pearl Harbor, Third
World War?, Apocalipse Now and others.
And the most surprising of all was that all visitors who came to the
ICP stayed longer at this newspapers exhibition than for the photos
that are exhibited at the ICP.