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Posted on January 28, 2014

The Globe Years
Arthur Griffin
– March 13, 2014
The cover of Pictorial Gravure Magazine, Boston Sunday Globe. Picture is of an ice encased fishing boat in winter. February 1929.

As an accomplished photojournalist, Arthur Griffin was a storyteller and captured universal experiences and emotions in his photographs.

The Globe Years, an exhibit of photographs from the Arthur Griffin archives highlights the growing career of Arthur Griffin and his time at The Boston Globe. Rotogravures and original prints will be displayed at the Cambridge Homes, located at Mt Auburn St in Cambridge, MA. The exhibition will be on view from January 23 – March 20, 2014.

Arthur Griffin worked at The Boston Globe from 1929-1946, when there was no more exciting place to be in the city of Boston, day or night. This was also a time of significant transition for the newspaper business, when photography and journalism merged and photojournalism was launched. Photography was playing an ever-increasing role in the production of newspapers and rotogravure was becoming more popular. The rotogravure process made for better reproduction of photographs than the photoengraving process used for the reproduction of photographs.

In 1935, with a mass circulation of more than 100,000 and the accessibly of the high speed, high definition press, the Globe was ready for its first rotogravure…and so was Griffin. Jimmie Krigman, a fastidious co-worker senior to Arthur in the art department, was put in charge and asked Arthur to join him. Griffin was to design the layouts of the roto’s pages, displaying the various photographs selected by Krigman.

Griffin decided not only to design layouts but to try his hand at photographs as well. From the relative isolation of artistic creation, of interminable draughtsmanship, Griffin was suddenly thrown into the rough-and-tumble competition of journalism. The Globe’s Rotogravure section was in competition with the best that the Hearst organization could offer. Taking the new position was risky and demanding. The pictures required photographic skill and the "big picture story," to which Arthur aspired, demanded inventiveness, foresight and imagination.

Over a three-year period, Griffin made his mark as one of New England’s first cameramen and photojournalists. He was the first to work exclusively with the new 35 millimeter camera, a German Contax he could ill afford to buy. All the news photographers of the day used a large box camera with a bellows, called a Speed Graphic. Compared with the 35mm, it was cumbersome to hold, heavy to carry and slow, as it required a change of plate for every two pictures. News cameramen preferred the Graphic for speed and production. With a deadline hanging over him, a photographer had only to develop the one film. With the 35mm, the photographer had to develop the roll, select the negatives and then print, all requiring more time. The rotogravure, however, was published only once a week. Speed of production was not the prime consideration, quality of image was. The 35mm camera permitted Griffin to make multiple exposures quickly, preserve the best and discard the worst.

From 1935 to 1946, Griffin’s photographs, "firsts" and feature stores appeared almost weekly on the Globe’s Sunday Rotogravure covers and double spreads. He authored stores on "unknowns" such as architect Royal Barry Wills, scientist Dr. Edwin H. Land, and other New Englanders who would become forces in their own field. He documented the "first" and the "last" events, the "new" and the "old" and the "eternal." In black and white and in color, Griffin captured the essence of Boston and New England, her people and heroes, streets and landmarks, culture and commerce, natural disasters and war years, her work and leisure, and of course her weather. During his Globe years, his antics, experiences and stories became as legendary as his photographs.

Arthur Griffin, who founded the Griffin Museum in 1992, had a more than 60-year career in photojournalism. Originally trained as an illustrator, he picked up his first camera – a second-hand Brownie – in 1929, igniting a lifetime passion for photography. Griffin, who went on to be known as New England’s photographer laureate, died in 2001 at age 97.

The public is welcome to view the exhibit Monday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. Please check in with the receptionist.

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Floor Plan

Amy Rindskopf's Terra Novus

At the market, I pick each one up, pulled in by the shapes as they sit together, waiting. I feel its heft in my hand, enjoy the textures of the skin or peel, and begin to look closer and closer. The patterns on each individual surface marks them as distinct. I push further still, discovering territory unseen by the casual observer, a new land. I am like a satellite orbiting a distant planet, taking the first-ever images of this newly envisioned place.

This project started as an homage to Edward Weston’s Pepper No. 30 (I am, ironically, allergic to peppers). As I looked for my subject matter at the market, I found that I wasn’t drawn to just one single fruit or vegetable. There were so many choices, appealing to both hand and eye. I decided to print in black and white to help make the images visually more about the shapes, and not about guessing which fruit is smoothest, which vegetable is greenest.

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Artistic Purpose/Intent

Tricia Gahagan

 

Photography has been paramount in my personal path of healing from disease and

connecting with consciousness. The intention of my work is to overcome the limits of the

mind and engage the spirit. Like a Zen koan, my images are paradoxes hidden in plain

sight. They are intended to be sat with meditatively, eventually revealing greater truths

about the world and about one’s self.

 

John Chervinsky’s photography is a testament to pensive work without simple answers;

it connects by encouraging discovery and altering perspectives. I see this scholarship

as a potential to continue his legacy and evolve the boundaries of how photography can

explore the human condition.

 

Growing my artistic skill and voice as an emerging photographer is critical, I see this as

a rare opportunity to strengthen my foundation and transition towards an established

and influential future. I am thirsty to engage viewers and provide a transformative

experience through my work. I have been honing my current project and building a plan

for its complete execution. The incredible Griffin community of mentors and the

generous funds would be instrumental for its development. I deeply recognize the

hallmark moment this could be for the introduction of the work. Thank you for providing

this incredible opportunity for budding visions and artists that know they have something

greater to share with the world.

Fran Forman RSVP