Gillette was born in Minneapolis, and his youthful years were peripatetic because of his father's occupation. Initially he studied acting under Michael Chekhov, a Russian-American theatre practitioner and was in several Broadway plays. Drafted in 1942, but not in action in World War 2, he later photographed for the Red Cross for three months at the front during the Korean War, achieving the Missouri School of Journalism award for best picture story for the work. He documented the Civil rights movement and the anti-Vietnam War demonstrations in the 1960s.[1]
While working at a restaurant in New York City, Gillette met Doris Porter, a fashion design student of Lovelady, daughter of V. H. "Hoyt" and Lucy Porter. He took photographs in the 1940s at the Porter Place, the ranch his future in-laws owned near Crockett in East Texas, documenting cattle farming, the family, and small-town life.[2] The pictures provided Gillette with an entree into journalism and he continued to photograph at the ranch throughout his career.[3][4]
Edward Steichen included his image of a father and two sons sitting at the counter in Arnold's Café, Lovelady, Texas in the Museum of Modern Art's world-touring 1955 exhibition, The Family of Man which was seen by 10 million visitors.[12]
In 1957, Jacob Deschin, camera editor of The New York Times, remarked that Gillette's "pictures were made with conviction. He photographed an important event rich in dramatic sidelights on every hand, including that most important of all elements in the photographer's attitude—personal involvement in the photographic experience itself."[13] From editorial work he moved later in life to commercial photography.[14][15]
Gillette died aged 90 on August 19, 2013, predeceased the year before by his wife of 70 years, Doris (née Porter), and survived by his sons Guy and Pipp. He saw an advance copy of the book, A Family of the Land: The Texas Photography of Guy Gillette,[17] published through the University of Oklahoma Press, but died before its publication. Gillette's photographs continue to be published.[18][19]
Exhibitionsedit
1955, January 24 – May 8: The Family of Man. The Museum of Modern Art, New York[20]
2010, January: On the Town. Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico[22]
2016, July 1 – September 18: The American Family Album: Wanderlust and encounters of the American family in pictures. Monroe Gallery, Santa Fe, New Mexico[23]
June 17, 2022 – September 3, 2023: Order/ Reorder: Experiments with Collections. Hudson River Museum
^Kane, Robert S; Gillette, Guy (photographer) (October 1953). "Billy the Kid at P.S. 4". Dance Magazine. United States: Rudor Publishing Company.
^Steichen, Edward; Sandburg, Carl; Norman, Dorothy; Lionni, Leo; Mason, Jerry; Stoller, Ezra (1955). The family of man : the photographic exhibition. New York: Museum of Modern Art, Simon and Schuster, with Maco Magazine Corporation. OCLC 1320804044.
^Bland, Bartholomew F.; Hudson River Museum (2006). Guy Gillette: Photographs. September 30, 2006– January 7, 2007. Hudson River Museum.
^Barron, Don (1981). Creativity 10 : a photographic review. New York: Art Direction Book Company. p. 124. ISBN 0-910158-77-0.
^LIFE : Johnny Cash : An American Legend, 15 Years Later (ebook ed.). United Kingdom: TI Incorporated Books. 2018. pp. unpaginated. ISBN 9781547844579.
^Wilkinson, Andy (2013). A family of the land: the Texas photography of Guy Gillette. ISBN 978-0-8061-4404-7. OCLC 832706135.
^Smeyers, Paul; Bridges, David; Burbules, Nicholas C.; Griffiths, Morwenna, eds. (2015). International Handbook of Interpretation in Educational Research. Netherlands: Springer. p. 1021. ISBN 978-94-017-9282-0. OCLC 1203988157.
^Newton, Matthew (2017). shopping mall. Bloomsbury Academic. doi:10.5040/9781501314841. ISBN 978-1-5013-1482-7.
^ ab"Guy Gillette | MoMA". The Museum of Modern Art. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
^"Exhibitions". The Journal News. September 17, 2006. p. 52.
^"ON THE TOWN EXHIBITION REVIEW – 2010-01-22 – Press – News". www.monroegallery.com. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
^"EXHIBITION: THE AMERICAN FAMILY ALBUM – 2016-07-01 – Press – News". www.monroegallery.com. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
^"2007.08.02". Hudson River Museum. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
^"Artists – Guy Gillette". www.monroegallery.com. Retrieved October 5, 2022.
^"Guy Gillette Archives". Holden Luntz Gallery. Retrieved October 5, 2022.