Tony Vaccaro: The Pursuit of Beauty

2024-07-05 - 2024-09-15

Tony Vaccaro: The Pursuit of Beauty -  July 5 through September 15, 2024.  (The Gallery is closed September 8 for vacation)

Musée Magazine review here. "Vaccaro attributed his longevity to “blind luck, red wine and determination.” Though audiences may not have his blind luck, they can learn an important lesson through the life."

"Tony Vaccaro photographed a world of beauty from a crucible of pain." The Albuquerque Journal

Tony Vaccaro died on December 28, 2022, eight days after celebrating his 100th birthday. Orphaned at age 6, as a young boy he immersed himself in studying classic European art and by age 10 had a box camera. He photographed WWII from a soldier’s perspective, documenting his personal witness to the brutality of war.  After carrying a camera across battlefields, he become one the most sought-after photographers of his day, eventually working for virtually every major publication: Flair, Look, Life, Venture, Harper’s Bazaar, Town and Country, Quick, Newsweek, and many more. Vaccaro turned the trauma of his youth into a career seeking beauty. Tony’s transition from war and its aftermath was a deliberate one as an antidote to man’s inhumanity to man. In 2016 HBO Films premiered “Under Fire: The Untold Story of Private First Class Tony Vaccaro”. The film tells the story of how Tony survived the war, fighting the enemy while also documenting his experience at great risk. The film is availble to stream from Apple and Prime platforms.  

This exhibit explores the extraordinary depth of his archive and features several new discoveries being exhibited for the very first time.