Restored Retro Masterpieces - The Kennedy Photography

A rest on the campaign trail unnoticed before fame.

An incredible exhibit that any retro art lover would enjoy is currently on display in Philadelphia. Oddly enough, this show (which runs through early September) is not in a traditional spot but at the National Constitution Center’s Newseum. Creating Camelot: The Kennedy Photography of Jacques Lowe rolls out more than 70 intimate photographs and historic images of President John F. Kennedy and his family. The Newseum presents a retro extravaganza of photos that helped create the legend of the his presidency often referred to as “Camelot” (one of his favorite broadway musicals). 

Bobbie unhappy with the LBG as running mate decision.

The exhibit is full of wonderful black-and-white shots of JFK in action with a behind-the-scenes look at his daily challenges on the campaign trail and in the White House. Even further amazing is an entire room devoted to Jackie and her magazine covers. Stunning large color reproductions and the original magazines they appeared in are on display. What’s even more incredible is that these enlargements were not produced from traditional negatives but from the retouched contact sheets. 

They had to remove Lowe's grease pencil markings as well!

After the Kennedy work was done, Jacques Lowe moved on to further his career in photojournalism and he knew these negatives were a treasure for safe keeping. Thinking it was best to protect them, he did just that — put them in a safe — a safe in JP Morgan’s seemingly impregnable vault in Tower 5 of New York’s World Trade Center. Then 9/11 came and his life’s most important work went with it. Amazingly, the safe in which they were stored was found intact, but the contents of over 40,000 negatives were reduced to ash. There were however, 1,500 of Lowe’s contact sheets located elsewhere in New York, and that’s how the story of this marvelous exhibition begins. 

Retouched print at right.

If you know traditional photography and how scratchy and tiny these prints are (proofs made from the negatives placed directly on paper), you can understand how difficult it must have been to get them to museum quality. There’s a video at the show which explains the process and a huge light table where you can zoom in on all the contact sheets beyond the retouched enlargements displayed. Retro art lovers should not miss this highly under publicized show. A great day trip to spend a afternoon with the Kennedy’s.