Looking at Ourselves - spot - Houston Center for Photography

top left:
Photographer or Studio Unknown
Hanover - No. 1 (Ku Klux Klan), 1924
Toned gelatin silver print
8.25 x 17.5 inches
Courtesy of Collection Blind Pirate (New York, NY)
below:
Photographer or Studio Unknown (Ohio)
C.H. & D. R.R. Shops
(Cincinnati, Hamilton @ Dayton Railroad - Ohio)
(Men in Plaid), early 20th Century
Toned gelatin silver print
10 x 13.375 inches
Courtesy of Collection Blind Pirate (New York, NY)
Colberg: So where/how do you find these photographs? Do you go
to flea markets, Ebay...?
Hunt: I always maintain that the photographs find me. I found a
killer photograph at the Rhinebeck Antiques Fair several years
ago, The Radio City Music Hall staff, 1939. It is unusually large
with everyone from the Rockettes to the ushers. It didn’t look
like much at the fair, but I framed it and “shazam!” I sold it to my
neighbor and will always regret it, although she may loan it for the
Houston show.
I look at antique markets and some flea markets, although Ebay
seems to have killed that. Lots of times these photographs are
in the wrong places, antique stores that have them as part of an
estate. But Ebay has been a major source. I have lots of keywords
and then I get an alert and I can look online.
Part of the growth of this collection is due to still having the
collecting addiction and finding that keeping costs to a couple of
hundred dollars doesn’t break the bank. I am not as obsessed with
this Collection Blind Pirate although it has gotten out-of-hand in a
most remarkable way.
Hunt: The Klan. It is crazy. The idea that all of these men would
assemble for a group “banquet style” photo and that some of
them would forget their hoods and put napkins over their faces.
Mind blowing. Insisting on anonymity in a photograph that is a
representational report. Where in the U.S. was this made?
Hanover ? Where? Chilling.
Colberg: Images like the Dance Club grouping, what appeals to
you in those kinds of images? There must be thousands and
thousands of those around.
Hunt: Undoubtedly, but there is only one with my parents in it,
The St. Clair River Dance Club. I grew up knowing most of those
people. There is a Sam Wagstaff story that the first picture he
bought was a sports team photo he found at a flea market; it had
his dad in it. Once upon a time with these images, someone knew
all of these people. They were quite personal.
An extended version of this interview can be found at
http://jmcolberg.com/weblog.
Colberg: Let’s maybe talk about some of the images you have. If
you would have to pick just one favorite which one would that be
and why?
26 SPOT SPRING 2010 27