"How a Portrait Became Iconic"

New York City-based photographer and author Lynn Gilbert, 85, presents “How a Portrait Became Iconic” on May 4 at the Roosevelt Library, 311 Roosevelt Ave. She will speak about her process of photographing Louise Nevelson, considered one of the greatest artists of the 20th century. On view in the gallery at the Roosevelt Library is Gilbert’s exhibit “Women,” featuring portraits of Louise Nevelson, Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Julia Child, Billie Jean King, and Alice Neel.

A reception is at 6 p.m., the presentation is at 7p.m. and dinner at 8 p.m. Cost is $45 for reception and presentation and $125 for reception, presentation, and dinner. For tickets and more information visit https://www.rooseveltlibrary.com/lynn-gilbert-how-a-portrait-became-iconic or call 210-862-1062. Limited-edition, signed selenium toned prints of the women featured in this exhibition will be available at the event.

In 1976, when Gilbert photographed Nevelson, she was an unknown children’s photographer, commissioned by Arne Glimcher, founder of the PACE Galleries. In 2022, nearly 50 years later Glimcher said, “Nevelson has been photographed by everyone, but this is the one portrait that captures her both as a person and as an artist.” Gilbert’s portrait of Nevelson, recognized as timeless, became the face of the 2022 Venice Biennale according to Art News.

“The hour and a half that I spent photographing her and the additional hour or so we spent talking shaped my life,” Gilbert recalled.

Nevelson was the inspiration for Gilbert’s book “Particular Passions: Talks with Women Who Have Shaped Our Times” published in 1981. Women in the book include Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Julia Child, Billie Jean King, Barbara Walters Grace Murray Hopper and 43 other women. The book was described by The Washington Post in 2018 as “revolutionary for shedding light on the accomplishments of women … In the mid 70s the internet did not exist.” An historic period in American history is illuminated in Gilbert’s book with photographs and text of the women in their own words, who shaped the American landscape and opened doors for women around the world.

Gilbert has devoted her craft to photograph areas of society that have not been photographed before. She spent almost 10 years traveling throughout Turkey to document the interiors of the traditional homes, an important part of Turkish cultural heritage. Gilbert captured portraits of the people who lived in these homes and villages along the Silk Road.

At 85 years young, Gilbert has no plans to slow down. The last few years she has documented a world-renowned garden in New York. She has also begun photographing some of the 70’s kids today as adults. Gilbert is working on three documentary projects.

About Lynn Gilbert

Gilbert is a documentary photographer and storyteller who has recorded areas of society that have not been recorded before. Gilbert’s work has appeared in countless books, on book covers, newspapers, magazines, film, and business reports including the MOMA, the British Museum, Netflix and National Geographic, among others.

Her portraits are widely collected including in the National Portrait Gallery, the NY Historical Society, Vassar, Yale, as well as the Richard and Ellen Sandor Family Collection, considered one of the finest private art collections in the world.

In addition to “Particular Passions,” her mid-1970s collection, “A Time Capsule of NYC ‘70s Kids,” portrays the unique individuality of children from more than 100 New York families of differing socioeconomic backgrounds. She also documented the interiors of the traditional houses in Turkey for almost a decade. Some of the work appears in her book “The Silk Road: Then and Now.” This work has been exhibited numerous times and appeared in Turkish editorials in all media.

For more information, visit https://www.lynn-gilbert.com/.

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