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Exhibitions

Recent Acquisitions

Even with more than 1500 pieces in his personal collection, Paul Paletti just keeps collecting. Whether it’s auction wins, finds from his yearly trip to Paris Photo or purchases made during our own Louisville Photo Biennial, there is always something new to see. Fortunately for photography fans his collection is personal but not private and the gallery’s newest show will highlight some historic, and fun, new additions. 

Famous: Lawrence Schiller

Famous
Lawrence Schiller

Over the past 70 years, Lawrence Schiller has photographed many of the most important figures in film, politics, and sports. Beyond that, his documentary research and collaboration with writers, and film and television directors and producers has provided historical depth and context to our understanding of several famous personalities, key events and news stories of our time. This exhibit of Mr. Schiller’s work highlights just one aspect of his rich and varied career, through his images of Marilyn Monroe, other film stars, Muhammad Ali, and Robert F. Kennedy.

August 31 – September 29, 2023

From the Heads of the Hollers
Featuring Shelby Lee Adams

Every summer for over 40 years, Shelby Lee Adams travelled to the mountains of Eastern Kentucky to take photographs. Now in his 70’s, he has returned to his archive of unpublished images taken between 1974 and 2010. His aim was to print those which may have been previously overlooked, concerned if he did not print them in his lifetime, the photos would never be made. Nearly 90 of these unpublished works will be included in his new monograph from Gost Books From the Heads of the Hollers and a selection of these will be featured in his Biennial show.

October 5 – December 29, 2023

New Monograph From Gost Books: From the Heads of the Hollers

Finding the Melancholy Past Diana Schoenfeld

For our last show of the year the gallery is pleased to showcase the photography of California artist Diana Schoenfeld. Finding the Melancholy Past will combine works from several of her photographic projects, unique collage-like still life arrangements revolving around the female figure begun in the early 1970s and later compositions composed of fragile natural specimens will be shown along with selections from her ongoing study of America’s often abandoned one
room schoolhouses, “Schoolhouse Odyssey”.

December 1, 2022 – March 31, 2023

Introducing Shelby Lee Adams

The Paul Paletti Gallery is pleased to welcome the IKT Congress to Kentucky for their 2022 meeting. To support their theme, “Global Appalachia” we will be hosting the delegates for a show by native Kentuckian and gallery favorite Shelby Lee Adams of his work (both color and black and white) with the people of Eastern Kentucky.

Shelby’s distinctive style of environmental portraits has created a unique and compassionate record of the people in that region’s rural areas and hollers. Working completely by word-of-mouth referral, Shelby has photographed several generations of families who have become his friends and subjects over the years.

Opening September 17, 2022

In a New Light: Couplets from the Paul Paletti Collection

For our summer show Paul has combed his collection for couplets paired to help the viewer to see familiar images in a new light. Selected images include work by Brett Weston, Lynn Geesaman, Tom Baril, Edward Steichen and many others.

July 15 – November 23, 2022

Splendor, Myth & Ritual

We are pleased to announce the Keynote Speaker for the 2021 Louisville Photo Biennial is Texas photographer Keith Carter. Dubbed both a “a transcendent realist” and “a poet of the ordinary,” Carter’s work has been featured in over 100 shows in 13 countries and he has 14 published monographs including Keith Carter: 50 Years (2018).

Pandemic Purchases

In 2020 when the country, no, when the whole world closed down, due to the Covid-19 pandemic people had to find ways to keep themselves busy. Some acquired too many houseplants or took up a new craft. Some baked sourdough bread. We all went to a lot of Zoom meetings. Paul Paletti, in a move that will surprise no one who knows him, bought photographs. 

The Persistence of Beauty

In 1967 a group of West Coast artists, frustrated by the lack of support for photography and a Western center like the George Eastman House or the Metropolitan Museum of Art to showcase it, banded together to form the Friends of Photography. The goal of the group was to encourage the growth of photography…

Taradiddle Charles Traub

A native Louisvillian best known for his ironic, real-world, witness-color photographs, Traub has dedicated himself to photography and photographic education for half a century. Traub has been a chairperson at the School of Visual Arts in NY for 30 years. He has served on a number of non-profit educational boards…

See Me Clearly: Women Photographers, Women Photographed

This show highlights the history of photography as told through Julia Margaret Cameron’s photo of Alice Liddell, for whom ‘Alice in Wonderland’ was written; through Edward Weston’s photos of Charis Wilson, his model, muse and wife; through the photos of Group f/64, including Imogene Cunningham and Sonia Noskowiak…

Shibumi: Photographs by Peter Dusek

In today’s world, the eyes and the soul are assaulted by myriad things, causing us to lose our focus, become scattered, and even blinded to the simple beauty hidden around us. Peter Dušek is an award-winning Canadian photographer whose toned black and white photographs give us a glimpse of this beauty, hidden like a special..

Finding Heaven in a Holler by Shelby Lee Adams

Our last show of 2017 will be the first all color show by gallery favorite and Kentucky native, Shelby Lee Adams. Finding Heaven in a Holler will run October 1 – December 31, 2017 with an opening reception on Thursday, October 5 from 5-8pm.

That Much Further West: Three Visions from New Mexico

For our summer show, the Paul Paletti Gallery will be featuring the black and white photography of Kirk Gittings, Jan Pietrzak and Philip V. Augustin. The show runs from July 1 – September 31, 2017. An artist’s reception will be held on Thursday, September 14 from 5-8pm.

Photographs by David Alan Harvey

“It’s a lot of work living the life that you want to live, but that’s what I’m doing.” David Alan Harvey became a photographer at age 11 when he used the profits from his newspaper route to buy a used Leica. After graduating from the University of Missouri’s Graduate School of Journalism and time at the Topeka Capital-Journal…

Forms of Japan

(Louisville, KY.) Forms of Japan by Michael Kenna will be on display at the Paul Paletti Gallery during the 2015 Louisville Photo Biennial. The show will open September 25, 2015, from 5:00pm- 8:00pm.

Michael Kenna will be present for a book signing on September 30, 2015…

Less Than $90,000

Richard Prince has a history of appropriating other people’s work, changing it, and selling it for very high prices.  In fact, his photograph of a Marlboro Man commercial off of television was the first photograph to sell at auction for over $1,000,000.  But his latest escapade in appropriation has produced an interesting twist.

Lull

Lull: Farewell Selections by Mary Burks will be on display at the Paul Paletti Gallery from February 4 – April 17, 2015. Lull is a curated show from the private collection of Paul Paletti, including several works that have never been displayed. Mary Burks is a BFA graduate from the University of Louisville Hite Art Institute where she studied…

Small Worlds

Margaret Oechsli was born in Poland, where she earned a Master of Science at The University of Wroclaw and her PhD in Immunology at the Polish Academy of Sciences. Through the microscope, Oechsli has become a witness to a cellular world that we otherwise simply cannot see.

Honky Tonk

Henry Horenstein was raised in New Bedford, Massachusetts, where his love of country music began at the local music store, the Melody Shop. It was there that he was instructed by the store owner to buy his first LP, Johnny Cash Sings Hank Williams.

Stars of the Silver Screen

Known as the “Grand Seigneur of the Hollywood Portrait,” George Hurrell transformed the vision of classic Hollywood and its actors. A native of Covington, Kentucky, he made his name in Hollywood as photographer to the stars, including luminaries such as Humphrey Bogart, Joan Crawford, Bette Davis, Greta Garbo, and Johnny Weissmuller.

Staff Picks

Wally Bejgrowicz, Mary Burks, Leslie Holland, Renee Murphy, and Patrick Pfister make up the staff of the Paul Paletti Gallery. They have each dedicated from 2 – 9 years in supporting, promoting and advancing the gallery. The group offers an eclectic appreciation and relationship to the art of photography. 

Mandela! Struggle and Triumph

A special reception to honor the life of Nelson Mandela will be held on Thursday, December 12, 2013 from 5-7:30pm.

Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist David Turnley spent a quarter-century documenting the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa…

The Third Perspective: A Collector's View

Over several decades, Paul Paletti has amassed an important collection of historic and contemporary photographic artworks of museum quality. As a collector, his intent has been to choose only those pieces in which the artist demonstrates a superlative degree of technical virtuosity offered with a distinctive vision.

Different Worlds: Selections from Close Relations and Show

Henry Horenstein was in college studying history with the goal of a PhD and an academic career when he was introduced to photography and the idea that he could continue studying history by photographing it.

Intimate Gems: The Landscapes of Lynn Geesaman

Geesaman focuses on the graphic patterns of the organic world in connection with areas of nature shaped by man, to create a world of impressionist beauty and soft atmosphere with her photographs. Geesaman attests to being lucky, admitting, “I photograph something people already like to look at.” She has only minor cognizance…

With Child by Howard Schatz

“Howard Schatz’s work spans more than two decades, and focuses almost exclusively on the human body as a natural form of sculpture,” says Paul Paletti. “He is a true master of the photographic medium, and this exhibit offers a dramatic look at the process of pregnancy and motherhood. 

Shelby Lee Adams

The Paul Paletti Gallery is pleased to announce a new exhibition by renowned photographer, Shelby Lee Adams featuring work from his new book, Salt & Truth. Please join us for an artist reception on Thursday, March 1, 2012 from 6 – 8pm. Adams will also attend the opening at the Gallery during the First Friday Trolley Hop…

Steve McCurry: Compassionate Vision

Afghan Girl, by Steve McCurry, which appeared on the cover of National Geographic Magazine in 1985, is probably the most famous photograph in the world. But this iconic image is not alone in showing McCurry’s compassionate vision. “Most of my images are grounded in people. I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul…

Photo Biennial

The Photo Biennial, Louisville’s premier photographic festival, is set to take place throughout the city during the month of October. Embracing local, national, and international photography, workshops, symposia, public discussions, and more than 30 exhibitions city-wide, the Photo Biennial will celebrate artistic excellence in this rich…

Bill Burke

Burke’s documentary photographs are a haunting and poignant record of his travels and experiences in Southeast Asia and the U.S. The images are often interwoven with his written descriptions of the people and places, lending additional personal and historic elements. His subjects are compelling and exotic in their everyday lives.

Gallery Retrospective

In celebration of its first ten years on Market Street and a decade as one of the original participants in “First Friday Gallery Hops,” the Paul Paletti Gallery will host a retrospective show Friday, August 5, 5 p.m. till closing.

“We’ve had great success being a part of the growth of the visual arts community and the..

Steve Sherman: A Landscape Seen

Steve Sherman is a self taught photographer whose work is largely influenced by his interest in landscape and the greater surroundings that culminated during his formative years. His work has achieved breathtaking clarity and indescribable depth through his use of ultra large format cameras and superlative mastery of traditional…

Napoli Senza Titolo

Curated by Fabio Donato, Maria Frederica Palesinte and Marina Vergiani, Napoli Senza Titolo explores the ways in which public spaces in Naples have been used by Neapolitans during the past 40 years. Naples is a city of extremes, famous for its beauty and creative spirit, but also associated with environmental degradation and corruption.

Bill Luster: Photographic Memories

Bill Luster began his career as a newspaper photojournalist in 1965, when he joined the staff of The Glasgow Daily Times, his hometown newspaper. Four years later, Luster moved to Louisville where he started working for The Courier-Journal and The Louisville Times, eventually serving as Director of Photography, photo editor…

Jay Dusard: Direct Gaze

Inspired by his personal connection to the people and cowboy culture of the west, Dusard captures panoramic landscapes and cowboy portraits with an authenticity only a trusted fellow cowpuncher could achieve. Among Dusard’s influences are his mentor, artist/photographer Frederick Sommer, and…

Paul Taylor and Bill Schwab

As a part of the 2nd Louisville Visual Arts Festival, the gallery exhibited photographs created using the historic wet plate collodion process. This process, which was invented in 1851 and dominated photography until 1875, uses large format cameras to make negatives on plates of glass or blackened metal. These plates must be coated with a light sensitive solution, exposed in the camera, and then developed, all before the plate dries out.

Recent Acquisitions

These photographs are specially priced for the holiday season, many at less than half the prices at galleries in New York, Chicago and Boston. These new acquisitions exhibit a wide variety of styles, and exemplify the true beauty and technique of black and white photography as an artistic medium.

Affordable Art Show

Bruce Cook, a Louisville dentist, works with a large format camera to produce striking landscapes and environmental portraits. Daniel Lin, of Zionsville, IN, is a neurobiologist, for whom photography is both an artistic outlet and a refuge. Daniel creates landscapes and abstracts which are richly toned and atmospheric. Gayle Moore, of Indianapolis, creates delicate and elegant high key black and white photographs of flowers and botanical arrangements.

BILL OWENS: SUBURBIA

In 1969, he photographed the legendary free Rolling Stones concert at Altamont Speedway, where the Hell’s Angels served as security and killed one fan. Throughout the 1970s, Owens witnessed the massive immigration of rural people into Californian suburbs, and subsequently became one of the first photographers to aim his lens at the national growth of suburban sprawl, which resulted in his critically acclaimed book Suburbia (1973).

H2O: HOWARD SCHATZ

The stunningly beautiful color images of ballerinas, models, and acrobats from Cirque du Soleil, all photographed underwater. Ethereal and elegant, Schatz’s figures soar, twist, and plunge in the invisible weightless underwater world of a slow-motion dance.

THE CLASSICAL & THE SPIRITUAL JOHN WIMBERLEY

His photographs display an elegance of the living essence present in his subjects, whether they be rocks, clouds, landscapes or detritus left by the hand of man. His recent subjects include Native American rock art sites, and the ghost towns and abandoned mining camps in Nevada.