The Syeus Mottel Photographic Archive; Prototype book titled ‘The View from the Street’
abstract,
The photography of Syeus Mottel is important documentation to contrast the monochrome Point of View of Life Magazine historical photography. The 1960’s to the 70’s has been viewed through a lens that imagines singular events removed from the continuum of daily life. In fact, politics and culture, family and protest, and diversity amongst community were intertwined by simply walking down the street. As his ‘diary,’ Mottel’s lens takes him through both the common interaction of daily life and to extraordinary political & cultural events. The View from the Street documents what was witnessed and experienced.
A student of Bruce Davidson at Magnum photography, Mottel’s skill as a documentarian should be recognized by a wider audience, but his work currently remains unknown. This prototype will be a general overview of his street photography, focusing on photography shot in New York City during the years 1967-1972. Included in his archive are street photos of Martin Luther King, Alan Ginsberg, Stokely Carmichael, MoonDog, Charlotte Moorman, Miles Davis. The format of the prototype will be an E-Book of approximately 50-60 images.
introduction,
The Syeus Mottel photography book prototype, The View from the Street will document Mottel’s images shot at street level which capture both famous people and the anonymous passerby. By focusing on Mottel’s street level photography rather than his documentation of indoor action, we see Mottel’s skill in photography as he naturally captures events and people without editorializing. This book will focus on his New York City street photography from 1967-1972. Mottel, who was an active theater director who studied with Lee Strasberg at the Actor’s Studio, used his camera as his ‘diary’ to document all that he witnessed. Unlike Instagram culture where work is instantly disseminated, Mottel’s photography was not widely seen, except for scant publication by international news wire services when he was on assignment. This prototype book will be the first public exposure of Mottel’s photography in book form since 1973.
background,
Syeus Mottel (1930-2014), was a published photographer, noted for his documentation of Lee Strasberg and the Actors Studio and Buckminster Fuller. In 1973, he published a photojournalistic book entitled ‘Charas, The Improbable Dome Builders’, documenting the attempt to build geodesic domes on the Lower East Side on Manhattan. He also appears as the credited photographer in William Greaves’ Symbiopsychotaxiplasm. In 1965, Lee Strasberg of the Actor's Studio granted him exclusive permission to photograph at the Actor's Studio. This resulted in a ten-year photographic archive of the Studio from 1965-1975. His photographic mentor was Bruce Davidson of Magnum Photography. He then became Media Consultant to R. Buckminster Fuller, and widely published his media documentation of Fuller's activities. When asked what his photographic method was, Mottel replied 'I was looking to make a diary."
Syeus Mottel preserved his photographic archive in its original manila envelopes, with date/subject matter noted by hand on each envelope. Over 500 envelopes with contact sheets and negatives were stored in his apartment. Since his death in January 2014, his son Matthew Mottel has been responsible for the archive. Matthew Mottel has begun a first digitization of his materials, scanning the covers of the manila envelopes and the contact sheets and organizing the material on a hard drive. This hard drive has over 500 folders that will be reviewed, and properly indexed into a searchable database. Once this is done, the photographs can be categorized, the many subjects can be annotated, and decisions made regarding importance in contemporary aesthetics. For this project, which is focused on street photography, 60-100 images will be selected to make a prototype book which will be the first major survey of Syeus Mottel’s work to date.
work plan,
The first step is to review the folders individually and find photography that matches the ‘street level’ metric. The contact sheets will be evaluated, based on how well a photo articulates the setting/time period/location that allows the viewer to experience the world at the moment of the photo. With over 500 folders, this will take extensive time and evaluation. As each folder is reviewed, images can be selected that meet the goals of the prototype. These images will be compiled, notated for location/date when available, edited for image quality and prepared for the prototype book consisting of 50-60 images. The format of prototype book will be as digital e-book. Photos will be shown either as a single image on a page or up to 3 images of the same subject on one page. Some contact sheets will be included that create a portrait of Mottel’s process.
Significance
I am acting both as curator, editor, representative and dutiful son in this endeavor. It is my goal to have my father’s work exist within curatorial photographic history of the mid 20th century. Seminal cultural and political figures in Syeus Mottel’s archive include Martin Luther King, Alan Ginsberg, John Cage, Ornette Coleman, Stokely Carmichael, MoonDog, Paul Jenkins, Robert Rauschenberg, Vito Acconci, Charlotte Moorman, Ken Dewey, Buckminster Fuller, Lee Strasberg, Miles Davis etc. Almost all of the photographs within the archive are street style photography, with very few posed or stylized photographs. Selections from this archive as a prototype book will permit a wider audience to view his work for the first time.
WORK PLAN
Week 8 - Start to itemize and catalog archive, research which software is best to use.
Week 9 - Continued work to itemize archive.
Week 10 - Database itemization, organizing completed.
Week 11 - Evaluation of materials, determination of what subjects will be focused on in book presentation.
Week 12 - Start formatting digital/physical mock book.
Week 13 - Editing of photographs, reducing number of selected photos, continued work on format for digital/physical edition of mock book.
Week 14 - Completion of digital and physical mock book. Estimated number of photographs included is 50-60.
RESEARCH
Research links
Archive presentation:
Street photography:
