Roy Schatt: James Dean and The Actors Studio

WESTWOOD GALLERY NYC is the exclusive worldwide representative of the Estate of photographer Roy Schatt (1909-2002) in collaboration with Ron Cayen Inc. The gallery maintains an inventory of Roy Schatt photographs, both vintage and modern, available for acquisition for private collectors and institutions. A curated selection is available for travel.

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In keeping with the gallery program of rediscovering forgotten artists and photographers, Curator James Cavello reviewed the archive of Schatt and organized a premiere New York exhibition of the acclaimed photographer. The exhibition included over 50 vintage and modern prints, some never before seen, others exhibited in the 1950s.

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JAMES DEAN

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Schatt's legendary photos of James Dean, who was a friend of Schatt as well as his photography student, encompassed the iconic Torn Sweater series, as well as images of Dean in personal moments playing the bongos and pretending to steal candy from a newsstand. The exhibition also included photos by James Dean as he practiced the art of photography using Schatt and actor friends as his subject.

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Roy Schatt stated about the actor: "He was a squinty schlump of a person all bent over. Then Dean suddenly got up and this ugly person became a dream, an Adonis who started to dance around the room. It was a transition I couldn't believe. (...) I knew James Dean from February 1954 until he died in September 1955. I knew him as a friend and as a student. He was a disrupter of norms, a bender of rules, a disquieter of calm. Through the following pictures and vignettes, I hope to transmit a glimpse of his most insistent, and perhaps eternal, presence".

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THE ACTORS STUDIO

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The exhibition included rare photographs of actors, writers, directors and playwrights associated with The Actors Studio where Roy Schatt was the official photographer. In addition, many other images of personalities active in the New York theatrical community from the 1950s and 60s are on exhibit. The vintage photos include alumni from The Actors Studio such as Elia Kazan, Lee Strasberg, Paul Newman, Marilyn Monroe, Geraldine Page, Tennessee Williams, Steve McQueen, Rod Steiger, Sidney Poitier, Joanne Woodward, Martin Landau, Arthur Miller, Jerry Stiller, Anne Meara, Ben Gazzara, Maureen Stapleton, and many other creative individuals (John Cassavetes, Dorothy Parker, Brendan Behan, Lillian Hellman, William Saroyan, Lorne Greene, Andy Griffith, Bud Schulberg and Marlene Dietrich).