One Maurice Sapiro

  Posted on June 1, 2012 By George Weaver

 60 Comments

Maurice Sapiro

Often I encounter people in restaurants or other public places.  Interesting people.  Sometimes, I have my camera and snap a photo.  I tell you about it sometimes too.  When I met this incredible man in the Blogosphere, I wondered if such a chance encounter counts in the real world?  I notice that bloggers don’t seem to like re-posts of another blogger’s post.  I can’t really figure out why that is since the ones which I see are new to me.  I wouldn’t have found them if they hadn’t been posted by a blogger whom I follow.

There are rules here, I know.  I understand most of them.  Sometimes, though, I don’t understand.  If I find something interesting on the street in my town or on a virtual street here, I want to post it.  I found this eighty-year-old artist.  I am excited about him and his work.  Especially, I am excited about the old photographs from the Fifties.  He draws, paints in watercolors and oils, sculpts.  I wish I were in Connecticut.  I would take him up on that cup of coffee.  And I would snap his photo to share with you.   Since I am not in Connecticut, this will have to do.  By the way, Mr. Sapiro is a gracious and generous man.  He promptly answers any questions about any of  the photographs on his blog.   I like him.  You will too.

I found Mr. Sapiro through a post on BoomerOntario’s blog, Canadian Art Junkie.

I was astounded when I saw prints of Mr. Sapiro’s old large format photographs and 35mm photographs.  The photographs posted from the European group are incredible.  The photograph above is one of the photographs of the people hired to copy the paintings for the Louvre’s records.  There are several of these fascinating Louvre copyist photographs from 1956.  Mr. Sapiro told me that he was only able to create this tone (which I call “golden sepia”) in PhotoShop many years after he tried to achieve the effect through the addition of chemicals in his darkroom.   How excited he must have been to discover that a few mouse clicks revealed it!

Mr. Sapiro was born in New Jersey in 1932.  He is a self-taught photographer who did his own color processing.  He also dabbled in inventing and in optics as well.  He built his own harpsichord.  He lives in Connecticut with his wife.

Bridge of Sighs

Mr. Sapiro had a great eye for street photography.

The Critic ~ 1956

He did remarkable photographs in Cibachrome, 4″ x 5″ Polaroid, Gum Bichromate, and every other medium available to him.   He says the digital age produces better images, but the darkroom was more fun!

I thought the photograph below was well composed and interesting.  Of course, the women were moving making the shot particularly difficult.

Nuns On Stairs, Paris 1957

Mr. Sapiro’s portraits in oil are breathtaking.  He has a signature and curious interpretation of eyes, I think.  I could not resist posting a couple of his portraits.  There are many others posted on his blog.

Portrait in Oils

Mr. Sapiro’s portraits in watercolor fascinate me.  His interpretation is very different from any portraiture I have ever seen.

Watercolor Portrait

A more recent photograph captivated me.  It is a photograph of a flowers on a table.  I commented to Mr. Sapiro that it was a “Renaissance painting”!  He was kind enough to respond with the information about the photograph.  (It loses some of its effect in this small size.)

Silver Vase 1976

Following is his response:

This morning I found a long lost box of Kodak 35 MM color negatives, and am running them through Photoshop.  My “Renaissance painting” was photographed in 1976, on a visit to Orient Point, Long Island.   Judy, our hostess, had this arrangement on the dinning room table—I don’t remember the meal, but this photo is unforgettable.

Mr. Sapiro is well known for his landscape and nature watercolor paintings.  As he said,  he is fascinated by 

…the moment when natures fuses light and air, and creates a work of art.

1911 Kodak D2 Camera

The Camera.  Maurice’s sixty-year journey has taken him from the old Kodak camera made in 1911 right into the digital age … from the darkroom to Photoshop.  What a journey it must have been.  And, he isn’t finished yet.

Happy Blogging, Maurice Sapiro!

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