{"id":53116,"date":"2025-10-03T10:07:08","date_gmt":"2025-10-03T10:07:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/53116\/"},"modified":"2025-10-03T10:07:08","modified_gmt":"2025-10-03T10:07:08","slug":"life-photographers-archive-and-1m-donated-to-center-for-creative-photography","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/53116\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Life’ Photographer’s Archive and $1M Donated to Center for Creative Photography"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Two<\/a>Benn Mitchell, Two Cowboys Reading Comic Books, 1951. | \u00a9 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents <\/p>\n

The Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona has received the archive of renowned Life magazine photographer Benn Mitchell, as well as a $1 million gift.<\/p>\n

Esther Mitchell donated the entirety of her late husband\u2019s archive to help preserve the work of the photographer who captured \u201cAmerican vitality\u201d across the mid-20th century. The $1 million will be used to establish the Benn and Esther Mitchell Endowed Collection Fund. <\/p>\n

\"Black<\/a>Benn Mitchell, Crowds, 1975. | \u00a9 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents <\/p>\n

Esther says she had been searching for the right home for Benn\u2019s work and learned about the Center for Creative Photography\u2019s reputation for preserving archives. \u201cThey don\u2019t just store photographs. They study them, teach with them and share them with the public. That combination really made me feel it was the right place,\u201d Esther says. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Benn Mitchell, Shadow of Man in Street, 1952. | \u00a9 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents <\/p>\n

Included in Benn Mitchell\u2019s archive are his negatives and prints, plus clippings and publications featuring his work, and also some of his gear. Through the donation, the Center for Creative Photography now holds the copyright to Mitchell\u2019s work, which will be made available for education, exhibition, and scholarly study. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe Center for Creative Photography [CCP] is the ideal home for Benn Mitchell\u2019s archive, and we are extremely grateful to Esther Mitchell for choosing the CCP to be the steward of Benn\u2019s legacy,\u201d says the director of the CCP, Todd Tubutis. \u201cEsther understands the critical importance of collections care, and her endowment gift will help ensure we are able to maintain best practices in preserving our collection and making it accessible to everyone.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Benn Mitchell, Billboard Sideshow for Leopard Girl with Crowds Below, 1950. | \u00a9 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents Who Was Benn Mitchell? <\/p>\n

Benn Mitchell, born in New York in 1926, received his first camera at the age of 13 and sold his first picture to Life when he was 16. The photo was a classic weather shot showing his little brother trying to keep cool during a heatwave by sitting on a block of ice while eating ice cream. Life paid him $25.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe thought he was a rich, successful photographer right then. From that point on, he was always looking for the next picture,\u201d his widow Esther says. <\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>Benn Mitchell, Humphrey Bogart, 1943. | \u00a9 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents <\/p>\n

At 17, Mitchell moved to Hollywood and photographed the likes of Humphrey Bogart before spending two years as a photographer in the U.S. Navy. In 1951, he returned to New York and opened a commercial studio with Esther. There, he undertook all types of photography, including stunning Manhattan street scenes and documenting American Indian culture. He also undertook commercial assignments in advertising and stock photography. <\/p>\n

\u201cBenn had the patience to wait for the right day, the right light and the right moment for the perfect picture,\u201d Esther says. \u201cHe could spend hours \u2014 sometimes all night \u2014 in the darkroom making sure the print matched the image he envisioned.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Benn Mitchell, Two Cowboys Reading Comic Books, 1951. | \u00a9 Center for Creative Photography, Arizona Board of Regents…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":53117,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[31],"tags":[40464,35364,437,434,435,436,40465,40466,438,146,85,46,40467,40468,32123,40469,40470],"class_list":["post-53116","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-arts-and-design","tag-20thcentury","tag-archive","tag-arts","tag-arts-and-design","tag-artsanddesign","tag-artsdesign","tag-bennmitchell","tag-centerforcreativephotography","tag-design","tag-entertainment","tag-il","tag-israel","tag-lifemagazine","tag-losangeles","tag-newyork","tag-photoarchive","tag-universityofarizona"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53116","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53116"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53116\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53117"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/il\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}