Milton Rogovin Exhibition Opens in New York City

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The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is pleased to announce that the exhibition, Remembering the Forgotten Ones: The Photographs of Milton Rogovin, will be on view at the New-York Historical Society, 2 West 77th Street (at Central Park West), New York City, from June 17 through October 12, 2003.

Born in New York City in 1909, Milton Rogovin moved to Buffalo in 1938 where the artist still lives with his wife Anne. For this exhibition, the Burchfield-Penney Art Center lent 56 photographs from its Milton Rogovin Collection that illustrate the artist's career as one of America's finest social documentary photographers. All the photographs on display were taken in Buffalo and its surrounding neighborhoods.

"The gift of 225 of Milton Rogovin's photographs by Mary Ann and Robert Budin to the Burchfield-Penney Art Center in 2001 ensures that the Burchfield-Penney will become a national resource for this artist's work and a vehicle from which his legacy will be perpetuated," said Ted Pietrzak, executive director of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center. "Milton's vision will have a profound effect on many generations to come."

A joint project of the Burchfield-Penney Art Center, the New-York Historical Society and Sound Portraits Production (the Society's collaborators on their 2001 exhibition, Flophouse), this exhibition documents the lives of residents of Buffalo's Lower West Side through a series of photographs taken by Milton Rogovin at ten-year intervals beginning in 1972.

Jan Ramirez, director of the museum at the New-York Historical Society said: "We're delighted to be the New York anchor for this retrospective. Milton Rogovin's work is just the sort of 20th-century material we love to exhibit here because his sharp, persistent eye has been able to capture a little known slice of New York State history in a compelling way. His Buffalo is a place rich in human feeling and lived experience."

The exhibition is accompanied by a short documentary film, The Forgotten Ones, directed by Harvey Wang (which won the Best Documentary Short award at the 2003 Tribeca Film Festival), and a new book, Milton Rogovin: The Forgotten Ones (with Dave Isay, David Miller and Harvey Wang; published by Quantuck Lane Press in June, 2003).

About the Burchfield-Penney Art Center

The Burchfield-Penney Art Center is a museum dedicated to the art and vision of Charles E. Burchfield and distinguished artists of Buffalo Niagara and Western New York State. Through its affiliation with Buffalo State College, the museum encourages learning and celebrates our richly creative and diverse community. For more information, call (716)878-6011 or visit www.burchfield-penney.org.

About the New-York Historical Society

Founded in 1804, the New-York Historical Society has served as the collective memory of the city for nearly 200 years. The Society's rich collections include painting, sculpture, artifacts, photography, prints and a vast research library in American history. The mission of the newly revitalized Society is to help New Yorkers appreciate and understand the origins of the city they know today. For more about the New-York Historical Society, please visit our Web site at www.nyhistory.org.

About Sound Portraits Productions

A non-profit company based in New York City, Sound Portraits is one of the country's most acclaimed documentary production houses. Under the direction of MacArthur Fellow Dave Isay, its mission is to tell the stories of ordinary Americans with dignity, celebrating the power and poetry in their words. Sound Portraits has accomplished this goal primarily through the creation of dozens of award-winning radio programs broadcast on NPR's All Things Considered. Whether on the radio, in print, or on the Web, SoundPortraits is committed to producing innovative works of lasting educational, cultural, and artistic value. To hear Sound Portraits past radio programs, visit www.soundportraits.org.



Remembering the Forgotten Ones: The Photographs of Milton Rogovin at the New-York Historical Society is made possible with generous support from the Balbach Family Foundation, Celsius Films Incorporated, The M&T Charitable Foundation, The Shelley & Donald Rubin Foundation, Inc., The Margaret L. Wendt Foundation, with in-kind support from WNYC. Collection and presentation of the oral histories are made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the generous support of an anonymous donor. Programs at The New-York Historical Society are made possible in part with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs. American Airlines is the official airline of The New-York Historical Society.
Media Contact:
Kathleen Heyworth, Public Relations, Burchfield-Penney Art Center | 7168784529 | heyworkm@buffalostate.edu