Timeless San Francisco – Timeless Cities

The fourth floor Art, Music and Recreation Center, the sixth floor San Francisco History Center and local photographer Emilie Valentine have collaborated on Timeless San Francisco - Timeless Cities, an exhibit that provides a glimpse into the urban life and landscape of cities and of San Francisco in particular.

On the fourth floor, images of city settings, landscapes and life taken from the Art, Music & Recreation Center’s books and periodicals are blended with samples of Valentine’s American urban images. Works by turn-of-the-century photographers Robert Doisneau, Lee Friedlander, Samuel Gottscho, Bernice Abbott, Ilse Bing and Henri Cartier-Bresson are also on display. The exhibit also includes 1950s sheet music and dance instruction books.

The sixth floor exhibit showcases Emilie Valentine’s photographs integrated with the San Francisco Historical Photograph Collection’s prints depicting San Francisco lifestyle and entertainment. Highlights from San Francisco History Center’s ephemera and realia collections include restaurant menus, bar napkins, guidebooks and glassware circa 1940s to 1960s. Valentine’s contemporary photography coupled with mid-20th century photographs represent an absence of time that occurs upon entering some of San Francisco’s nightclubs, bars, and dining establishments.

The exhibit will last from January 19 to March 20, 2008.

The following books about photography are available at the Main Library. Because some of them are included in the exhibit, their availability may be limited. Some may also have additional copies available to check out both from the Main Library collection from the branch libraries or may be available through Link+. The original prints in this exhibit are courtesy of Emilie Valentine, whose work can be viewed at www.emilie.com.

American Photography, 1890–1965, From the Museum of Modern Art, New York by Peter Galassi. New York: The Museum, 1995.
779.0973 M972a

Henri Cartier-Bresson: the Man, the Image and the World: A Retrospective by Henri Cartier-Bresson. London: Thames & Hudson, 2003.
779.092 C248b

Ilse Bing: Photography Through The Looking Glass by Larisa Dryansky. New York: H. N. Abrams, 2006
770.92 B5131d

Invisible City by Ken Schles. Pasadena, CA: Twelvetrees Press, 1988
779 Sch38i

The Mythic City: Photographs of New York by Samuel Gottscho, 1925–1940 by Donald Albrecht. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005
779.4747 G717laL

New York Changing: Revisiting Berenice Abbott’s New York by Douglass Levere. New York: Princeton Architectural Press, 2005
779.9974 L5771n

Open City: Street Photographs Since 1950 by Kerry Brougher and Russell Furguson. New York: Distributed Art Publishers, 2001
779.9307 Op21

Portraits of Community: African American Photography in Texas by Alan Govenar. Austin, TX: Texan State Historical Association, 1996
779.9976 P8384

Reframing America: Alexander Alland Otto Hagel & Hansel Mieth, John Gutmann, Lisette Model, Marion Palfi, Robert Frank. Essays by Andrei Codrescu and Terence Pitts. Tucson: Center for Creative Photography, 1995
779.9973 R259

Robert Capa: Photographs by Robert Capa. New York: Knopf, 1985
779 C1707c

Robert Doisneau’s Paris by Robert Doisneau. Paris: Flammarion, 2005
779.9944 D685r

Social Dance: Steps to Success by Judy Patterson Wright. Champaign, IL: Human Kinetics, 2003
793.33 W933s

Sticks & Stones: Architectural America by Lee Friedlander. San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2004
779.4092 F9138e

Swing Dancing by Simon Selmon. New York: Sterling Pub. Co., 2002
793.33 Se49s

Minnie the Moocher (The Ho De Ho song) by Cab Calloway
from the Dorothy Starr Sheet Music Collection - ask at 4th Floor Art Music & Recreation Desk