The Syeus Mottel Photographic Archive; Prototype book titled ‘The View from the Street’
abstract,
The photography of Syeus Mottel is important documentation of a misconstrued era. The 1960’s into the 70’s has been viewed through a lens that separates the true interconnected nature of the period. Mottel’s lens as his ‘diary’ takes him through both the common and the extraordinary and he documents it all. The View from the Street will be created as a book prototype focusing on the people and places he encountered in his daily existence. A student of Bruce Davidson at Magnum photography. Mottel’s skill as a documentarian should be recognized by a wider audience. This prototype will be a general purview of his photography, focusing on his street photography. Included in his archive are exclusive photos of 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.
introduction,
The Syeus Mottel photography book prototype The View from the Street is a document of Mottel’s lens at street level capturing both famous people, and the unknown passerby. By focusing on Mottel’s street level photography rather than his documentation of indoor action, we see the skill of Mottel’s photography without the fetishization of the events he documented. This prototype will focus the work on both New York and California photography where Mottel widely traveled. The years of documentation are from 1967-1975. Mottel 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 will be the first critical evaluation of Mottel’s photography.
background,
Syeus Mottel (1930-2014), was a published photographer, notable 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, with his media documentation of Fuller's activities widely published. 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. Upon his death in January 2014, Matthew Mottel has been responsible for the archive. Matthew Mottel has begun a first digitization, 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 need to be reviewed, and properly indexed into a searchable database. Once this is done, the photographs can be categorized, and the multitude of subjects can be annotated, and decisions 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 would 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. 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 60-100 images.
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 & 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 formating 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 60-100.
RESEARCH
Research links weintraub
Archive presentation:
Street photography:
TOWARD A SOCIAL LANDSCAPE
BRUCEDAVIDSON LEEFRIEDLANDER GARRYWINOGRAND DANNYLYON DUANEMICHALS EDITEDBYNATHANLYONS
HORIZON PRESS, NEW YORK, IN COLLABORATION WITH THE GEORGE EASTMAN HOUSE, ROCHESTER, NEW YORK
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