Black Is Beautiful: Govinda Gallery Live Spotlights LaMonte McLemore’s Portrait Photography

By Tom Turco  
  
While it’s self-evident that “Black is beautiful,” it was as soon as essential to claim that notion vigorously to drive it house for a mass U.S. viewers. The daring photos captured by photographer LaMonte McLemore performed a pivotal position in that transformation, and his images resonate to this present day. 

  
The espresso desk ebook “Black Is Beautiful: JET Beauties of the Week,” subtitled “The Photography of LaMonte McLemore,” is certainly a magnificence. Published in 2024 by Brooklyn-based powerHouse Books, it reveals quite than tells with his evocative photos of Black ladies within the Sixties and ’70s.   

The ebook’s high quality is prime shelf. Printed on a heavy inventory of paper, McLemore’s high-resolution, lushly saturated pictures virtually bounce off the web page. One phrase to sum it up: Stunning. 
 
The editor of “Black Is Beautiful,” Govinda Gallery founder Chris Murray, who curates Govinda Gallery Live, hosted the newest installment of the collection on Nov. 11, an night of storytelling that centered on McLemore, his work and its cultural affect. 

 
Murray shared a narrative concerning the ebook’s genesis, when McLemore visited Govinda Gallery, which stood at 34th and Prospect Streets in Georgetown. The gallery, which established itself as some of the progressive up to date galleries within the nation, simply celebrated its 50th anniversary. 
 
“LaMonte walked into my gallery more than a dozen years ago. He showed me some travel photos, beach landscapes from all over the world. Then he mentioned he was a founding member of the 5th Dimension, and that he was a photographer for Jet magazine.”  
 
They had an important dialog, saved speaking and determined after a time they need to do a ebook collectively. 

  
“Turns out, he had more than 40,000 photos from his Jet sessions over the years, and they were all on slides that had to be scanned. We got some help with that piece of it, then went about selecting images for the book,” Murray recounted, noting that it was a painstaking course of as a result of the images had been of such prime quality. 
 
Jet journal, based in 1951 in Chicago by John H. Johnson, was the seminal African American weekly. Its mission: “Serve as a news and entertainment digest for the Black community.” It did simply that in its 63-year run. 
 
Well identified for its protection of the civil rights motion, Jet featured articles on tradition, style and celebrities. According to Johnson, the identify Jet (styled in all caps) exemplified quick and black. Its sister journal, based six years earlier, was Ebony.  

In 1952, Jet started presenting a full-page “Beauty of the Week” function: {a photograph} of an African American girl in a swimsuit, alongside together with her identify, place of residence, occupation, hobbies and pursuits.  

Discussing McLemore’s legacy, Murray supplied a charming deep dive into the story behind the ebook. It was an interesting glimpse right into a transformative period in U.S. historical past, when the civil rights motion was making headway on a number of fronts and Eurocentric ideas of magnificence had been being upended. 
 
The full home at Jenn Crovato’s 1310 Kitchen & Bar in the Georgetown Inn was engaged all through the night, which started with music from the interval by artists resembling James Brown, Al Green and Stevie Wonder. The crowd chatted and loved refreshments earlier than digging into a luxurious homestyle meal.
 
Murray talked about his favourite photos and advised vivid tales about a number of of the ladies within the images. McLemore’s mastery of the lens is on full show within the ebook; few phrases are wanted to convey a robust message. 
 
Capturing a vibrant and enduring period of American tradition, “Black Is Beautiful” contains a perceptive ahead by Murray and compelling essays by former Jet senior editor Sylvia Flanagan, famend artist Mickalene Thomas and trailblazing journalist and TV character Jayne Kennedy. The essays supply illuminating observations concerning the cultural significance of McLemore’s work, putting it in historic context and describing what it meant to every creator personally. 

Kennedy, the night’s visitor speaker, mesmerized the viewers. The first Black girl to be topped Miss Ohio USA, in 1970, the award-winning actress, first-ever feminine sportscaster, company spokesperson and supermodel mentioned her lifelong collaboration with McLemore as his most photographed topic. She emphasised the relentless push wanted to obtain success at a time when Black ladies had been routinely dismissed due to the colour of their pores and skin. 
 
Still youthful and match, Kennedy stated her solely remorse is that it took so lengthy for Black ladies to interrupt by. She spoke with nice affection about her pal McLemore, now 86, who handled all with respect whereas conducting a lot as a musician and a photographer over greater than 40 years. Her ebook, “Plain Jayne: A Memoir,” not too long ago revealed by Andscape, “offers an unflinchingly honest account of Kennedy’s rise in Hollywood and beyond.” 
 
Murray has spearheaded greater than 250 exhibitions in museums and galleries worldwide. 
In 2027, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, will unveil a significant exhibition of McLemore’s pictures he organized. The present will cowl all of the sides of the photographer’s wide-ranging work, which spans tradition, style, music and different areas. 
 
Although Govinda Gallery — the highest gallery on this planet specializing in pictures relating to musical artists — closed its bodily doorways in 2011, it lives on by way of Murray’s different initiatives: pop-up gallery installations, the Govinda Gallery Live collection and quite a few ebook tasks.

Murray has authored, co-authored or contributed to 25 books, together with “Elvis at 21,” “The Lost Amazon: The Photographic Journey of Richard Evans Schultes,” “Days of Hope and Dreams: An Intimate Portrait of Bruce Springsteen,” “Bob Dylan: NYC 1961-1964,” “Knockout: The Art of Boxing,” “George Harrison: Be Here Now” and “Patti Smith: American Artist.” 

 

tagsblack Georgetownblack georgetownersBlack Historyblack is gorgeousGovinda GalleryJayne KennedyJet MagazineLaMonte McLemorephotographyportrait picturesThe fifth Dimension