Tango Bar

Keith Cardwell

Sunday Afternoon

E. Ira McCrudden

Black and White

2005 Aug 19 - Oct 2

Opening Reception for the Artists Saturday, Aug 20, 5 - 7 pm

All museum collected, Keith Cardwell, Ira McCrudden and Patrick Pagnano have mastered the art of black and white photography, finding choice moments of unstaged subject and light and rendering world class prints of the world as they see it. In Black and White, Pagnano takes us through the streets of Italy, Cardwell captures the rhythms of Cuba; and McCrudden brings us the timelessness of New York.

From the United Kingdom, Cardwell made his name as a photographer publishing in journals and magazines such as The Guardian, The Observer and Black & White Photography. He was the first British photographer to exhibit in Havana, Cuba, and curated, as well as exhibited in, Cuba Si—50 years of Cuban Photography, National Theatre, London, which traveled to 10 other venues throughout the world. Cardwell longed to visit Havana for 15 years before he got the opportunity: “My interest peaked in 1994 when I became disillusioned with press photography. My projects in China were complete. I had produced a book on child prodigies and a major exhibition in London on Chinese art. I decided to take a professorship in the U.S. in Savannah, Georgia. Looking at the map, Havana seemed very near. My third visit, I met with Alberto Korda (that man, the Che photograph!)” recalls Cardwell, who became fast friends with the late Korda, best known for his work as Fidel Castro and Che Guevara’s private photographer during the years of the Cuban Revolution.

Signed and sealed prints by Alberto Korda will also be available at the Chace-Randall Gallery.

Roxbury and NYC resident and the recipient of numerous awards and honorariums, Ira McCrudden has exhibited at the National Gallery of Australia, Museum of Modern Art (Life of the City), Laguna Gloria Museum (New American Talent), and the Alternative Museum (The National Showcase). He has had solo shows at the Wessel O’Connor Gallery, South Street Seaport Museum, Pittsburgh Filmmakers Gallery and Roxbury Arts Group. His work is in many permanent collections including The Brooklyn Museum, The Institute of Design in Beijing, New York University and The New York Public Library.  

Ira’s photographs have been described as “grace under pressure” (Holland Cotter, The New York Times). His “classic composition in black and white photograph has a timeless quality,” writes Popular Photography.

Ira was also a member of the Visual AIDS Artist Caucus, a small group of artists who created the ubiquitous Red AIDS Ribbon.>

Patrick D. Pagnano, too, sports an impressive list of credentials. His photographs have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Philadelphia Museum of Art, Houston PhotoFest, Mois de la Foto á Montreal, Pace-MacGill Gallery, NYC, Light Gallery, NYC, New York Cultural Center and various other galleries and institutions around the country. His photographs are in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, Art Institute of Chicago, Helmut Gernsheim Collection in Switzerland, 3M Collection in Minnesota, Dryfus Collection in New York City and many private collections

Pagnano was raised for the first five years of his life in his immigrant grandparents home on Taylor Street — an Italian/American neighborhood in Chicago. The influence of these early years always remained a wonderful memory and instilled a curiosity to go back to his roots. In 1975, he spent several months traveling from Northern Italy to the tip of Sicily, exploring most of Italy and photographing the street life of Italian cities and towns in black & white. He calls this group of photos “Persa la Bussola,” which roughly translates into “Lost the Compass.”

Patrick and his wife Kari have a home in Halcott Center.