Hamptons-Based Museum To Explore The Legacy Of Fred W. McDarrah During Special Talk

Into the Artist’s World: The Photographs of Fred W. McDarrah, an exhibition on view at the Parrish Art Museum, highlights 27 portraits, taken by Fred W. McDarrah, of artists who are featured in the Water Mill-based museum’s collection that had a significant impact on the creative legacy of the East End.

The Parrish will further explore the legendary Village Voice staff photographer who documented the New York culture scene for almost 50 years during The Curator’s View: Alicia Longwell on Fred W. McDarrah on Friday, January 11, at 6 p.m.

“These photographs by Fred McDarrah give us an extraordinary glimpse into the cultural milieu of the ’60s and ’70s, and an intimate view of some of the most important artists of the time,” noted Alicia Longwell, the Lewis B. and Dorothy Cullman Chief Curator, Art and Education.

The portraits, which were taken between 1959 and 1979, feature intimate and mostly candid shots of very notable American artists, including Andy Warhol Norman Bluhm, James Brooks, Elaine de Kooning, Willem de Kooning, Roy Lichtenstein, and Robert Motherwell. They capture the subjects at their abodes, studios, and popular Manhattan locales, and even East End destinations. McDarrah, who called Greenwich Village home, resided near Abstract Expressionist Franz Kline, resulting in many impromptu photo sessions. The photographer was the sole artist to capture Carolee Schneeman’s iconic performance of Interior Scroll in August 1975 at Ashawagh Hall in Springs, which was near McDarrah’s summer residence.

Always ready for inspiration, McDarrah’s family says he brought his camera, a worn 35mm Nikon, everywhere he went, even during mundane errands like a stop at the grocery store.

Additionally, to accompany McDarrah’s works, the Museum is displaying a series of works by the artists who are featured in Into the Artist’s World: The Photographs of Fred W. McDarrah.

Admission is $12, but free for Members, children, and students.

Parrish Art Museum is located at 279 Montauk Highway in Water Mill. For more information, visit parrishart.org.