FORMAT PhotoForum Live: WM Hunt presents 'The Unseen Eye'

Presented by FORMAT International Photography Festival, PhotoForum Live is a series of inspirational talks between leading photographers, curators, producers and industry professionals.

W.M. - Bill - Hunt has been looking at and talking about photography for a long time initially as a collector then as a dealer, teacher and writer.

Hunt is a champion of photography: a collector, curator and consultant who lives and works in New York. His collections have been exhibited in Europe and the US. He recently organized an exhibition in Poland “oo’s & iii’s: an unusual melange of inspired selections from the photography collections of W.M. Hunt.

“The Unseen Eye," published by Thames & Hudson, Aperture and Actes Sud in 2011 presents a wonderfully idiosyncratic and compelling collection of photographs assembled around a particular theme: in each image, the gaze of the subject is averted, the face obscured or the eyes firmly closed. Amassed over the course of more than 30 years by Mr. Hunt, the collection includes works by masters such as Richard Avedon, Diane Arbus, Imogen Cunningham, William Klein, Robert Mapplethorpe and Robert Frank, as well as works by lesser-known artists and vernacular images. The images are drawn together by a highly personal monologue that weaves throughout the book, in which Hunt offers his own perceptive responses to the images he has gathered over many years.

He teaches and lectures around the world, upcoming at ICP in NYC and Maine Media Workshop. He writes (“The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious," “Hunt’s Three Ring Circus: American Groups before 1950," “l’Oeil de la Photographie” and numerous artist monograph essays, including one for Volume II of Brian Griffin’s biography.

W.M. Hunt is a big fan of FORMAT and has participated in the past three biennials, as a portfolio reviewer, speaker and curator for Lottie Davies’ “Quinn”. Hunt is a descendant of Harry M. Stevens who emigrated to the US from Derby in the 1880s . HMS started as a grocer and steel puddler and went on to create the hot dog. Google him https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harry_M...


He loves photography. It changed his life; it gave him one. He can be a little rude and unpredictable. Hope for the best.


Hosted by Louise Fedotov-Clements, produced by Debbie Cooper and Niamh Treacy.