CCP receives famend photographer Benn Mitchell’s archive, $1 million present

An internationally acknowledged photographer’s archive and a significant endowment are coming to the University of Arizona’s Center for Creative Photography. Esther Mitchell has donated her late husband Benn Mitchell’s photographic archive to the middle, together with a $1 million present to ascertain the Benn and Esther Mitchell Endowed Collection Fund.

The present gives a significant increase to the preservation and research of the work of a photographer who captured American vitality, from the streets of New York City to the soundstages of Hollywood.

“We are deeply thankful to Esther Mitchell for her generosity to the Center for Creative Photography,” stated Hasan Elahi, dean of Arizona Arts. “Her dual gift is both forward-looking and deeply personal, supporting the center’s future while entrusting us with the archive of her late husband, Benn Mitchell. The significance of the CCP collection cannot be overstated.”

‘Always searching for the following image’

Born in 1926, Benn Mitchell bought an early begin in pictures, receiving his first digicam at age 13 and promoting his first image to “Life” journal a couple of years later.

“He started at 16, photographing his little brother during a heat wave, sitting on a block of ice eating ice cream,” Esther Mitchell stated. “‘Life’ magazine published it, and he got $25. He thought he was a rich, successful photographer right then. From that point on, he was always looking for the next picture.”

At 17, Mitchell left New York City for Hollywood, the place he photographed stars together with Humphrey Bogart. After two years as a U.S. Navy photographer, he returned to New York City and, in 1951, opened a business studio that he and Esther operated for many years. His work there ranged from vivid New York avenue scenes and pictures of American Indian tradition to promoting and inventory pictures.

“Benn had the patience to wait for the right day, the right light and the right moment for the perfect picture,” Esther Mitchell stated. “He could spend hours – sometimes all night – in the darkroom making sure the print matched the image he envisioned.”

Preserving the gathering

The archive contains Mitchell’s images and prints, plus clippings and publications that includes his work, and a few of his photographic tools. Through the donation, the Center for Creative Photography holds the copyright to Mitchell’s images, which can be found for training, exhibition and scholarly research as a part of the bigger archive.

“When I started looking for the right home for Benn’s work, I learned about the Center for Creative Photography and the strong reputation they have for preserving archives,” Esther Mitchell stated. “They don’t just store photographs. They study them, teach with them and share them with the public. That combination really made me feel it was the right place.”

Todd Tubutis, director of the Center for Creative Photography, stated the endowment will help collections care, together with shelving, archival boxing, paid scholar internships and different bills required to protect the archive.

“The Center for Creative Photography is the ideal home for Benn Mitchell’s archive, and we are extremely grateful to Esther Mitchell for choosing the CCP to be the steward of Benn’s legacy,” Tubutis stated. “Esther understands the critical importance of collections care, and her endowment gift will help ensure we are able to maintain best practices in preserving our collection and making it accessible to everyone.”

An enduring legacy

As the CCP continues to course of the donated supplies, it has posted several of Mitchell’s photographs on-line. Esther Mitchell stated she hopes viewers will expertise the sweetness, humor and historical past in her husband’s work.

“Benn always said that all the money he made from photography should go back into the arts,” she stated. “That was his only career, and he wanted it to support others. This donation makes sure that wish will be carried out, now and in the future.” 

The present can also be a part of the university’s $3 billion campaign. Gifts to this complete fundraising effort have touched all elements of campus, powering scholar success, school analysis and rather more.

“This gift is not just an incredible addition to the CCP’s collection, it’s also an investment in the CCP’s ongoing preservation practices,” stated John-Paul Roczniak, president and CEO of the University of Arizona Foundation. “Thanks to Benn and Esther Mitchell’s endowment, the CCP will have an ongoing fund to support caring for its collections.”