35th Anniversary: Part I
September 25 - November 7, 2015
In celebration and recognition of the gallery’s 35th anniversary we are proud to exhibit a group of photographs that reflect and honor the roots of our gallery.
Paul Caponigro
Walter Chappell
Beaumont Newhall
Nancy Newhall
Eliot Porter
Ralph Steiner
Willard Van Dyke
Edward Weston
Camera Work Photogravures
In celebration and recognition of the gallery’s 35th anniversary we are proud to exhibit a group of photographs that reflect and honor the roots of our gallery. During the early years the gallery was located in a house in the Guadalupe Barrio on Don Felix Street. At the time only Nicholas Potter Bookshop and the Santa Fe Center for Photography were exhibiting photography in Santa Fe. Since photography at that time was just beginning to be considered “collectable” by those other than photographers themselves. The dual mission of our endeavors revolved around the exhibition of masterworks by renowned national and international artists and education. We felt it was important to educate the community about photography as an artistic medium but also to inform potential collectors, specifically in regard to understanding that in a reproductive art form one doesn’t only collect photographic “pictures” but the importance of the “interpretive print” and the connoisseurship of collecting.
Our early exhibitions included the works of our mentors and neighbors; Beaumont Newhall and Eliot Porter whom we assisted as well as Paul Caponigro and Walter Chappell both who lived in the neighborhood, Willard Van Dyke whose work inaugurated our gallery and then later moved to Santa Fe, and his close friend the noted photographer and filmmaker Ralph Steiner. The attendees at the opening of the gallery, was a who’s who of the photographic community of Santa Fe.
Scheinbaum & Russek LTD was established in 1980 through a series of serendipitous events. In 1978 David Scheinbaum moved to Santa Fe, New Mexico with the hope of meeting and working with the pre-eminent photography scholar, Beaumont Newhall. This dream came true. Their professional relationship had many facets and with that a friendship quickly developed. In 1979 David began printing for Beaumont Newhall. The many people who came to work and study with Beaumont often asked to see his photographs – thus David found himself in the position of creating a “meeting place” for photographers and collectors. The idea for a gallery evolved in 1980 when Janet Russek moved to Santa Fe. They opened their doors with a retrospective of Willard Van Dyke’s work. (see announcement below). The tradition is now being carried on by their daughter, Andra Russek, whose love of the history of photography was formed in her early years while sitting at the feet of Beaumont Newhall.
While David continued to work with Beaumont Newhall, Russek began assisting Eliot Porter. Their relationship also grew from the studio to the gallery and the gallery began to expand representing both local and international photographers. To date they have exhibited and worked with over 300 photographers. Scheinbaum & Russek have approached the gallery world through their roles as educators, artists, and collectors and bring to their gallery an appreciation of photographers, the fine print and the history of photography.
This exhibition, which celebrates our beginnings, is Part I. On November 20th we will mount Part II, which will include works by some of the many other notable photographers we have exhibited over the past 35 years.