Amistad

 Next to New Haven city hall there is a three-sided statue honoring the Amistad defendants.

An inscription on the base reads in part "On this site, the Amistad Africans were jailed awaiting trial for piracy and murder.  To aid their struggle for freedom, the Amistad Committee formed counting in its number ministers Simeon locelyn, Joshua Leavitt and James Pennington; merchant Lewis Tappan; professor Josiah Gibbs: and lawyer Roger Baldwin.

"The Africans were tried twice prior to their ultimate triumph before the United States Supreme Court, where former President John Quincy Adams courageously defended them. Sengbe Pieh and his fellows were declared Free Persons. Then they returned to Sierra Leone."

Sandler Portraits II

 Here is a second set of portraits by August Sander currently on view at the Yale Art Gallery.  I could keep going, but I just wanted to show a sampling.

The gentleman on the right is a composer.

Say hello to the prominent composer, Richard Strauss.

I didn't take good notes about these.  Sander's exhibition is organized around such things as professions, types (such as women and workers) and classes (middle class children, below).

Sander Portraits I

 Here is a sampling of the 600 portraits by August Sander currently on view at the Yale Art Gallery.

On the left we have a portrait of a Nazi SS Captain.  On the right is a diplomat.

A pharmacist.

On the left,  an Industrial Magnate.  On the right, a bricklayer from Cologne.

A master shoemaker.

A painter couple.

The director of a wax museum.

Aren't these brilliant?  More tomorrow.

August Sander at the Yale Art Gallery

 Why so many New Haven photos recently?  I went to the Yale Art Gallery to see an exhibition of more than 600 black and white portrait photographs by German photographer, August Sander, from the first half of the 20th century.  It is a brilliant exhibition and Sander was a brilliant portrait photographer.

Sander called his exhibition People of the 20th Century.  He grouped them by classes, occupations, and backgrounds, arranging them into groups like "The Farmer" "The Skilled Tradesman," "The Woman" and "Classes and Professions."

Today I am showing some walls of portraits.  In the next couple of days, I will show a few close-ups.

New Haven Superior Court

 

This is a color photograph, not black and white.

Sky

The June theme for City Daily Photo participants is "Sky."  This is a theme made for me.  When clouds in a rich blue sky make beautiful patterns, I can't look away.

Puffs above a palm tree in Naples.

Lovely low cumulus clouds at a Sanibel beach with wispy clouds higher.

Two sky views from the golf course in Naples.

And a morning view from my Naples home.

Theodore Dwight Woolsey

A statue of longtime Yale President Theodore Dwight Woolsey sits at a prominent location in Yale Old Campus.  Woolsey graduated as valedictorian of the Yale Class of 1820 and later served as a professor of Greek from 1831 to 1846.

Woolsey's uncle Timothy Dwight had been Yale's President from 1795 to 1817.  Woolsey was elected President in 1846 and served until 1871.  Another Dwight relative followed.  During his 25 years as president, Yale advanced in wealth and influence and two new departments, the Scientific School and the School of Fine Arts, were begun.