New David Attie Photo Exhibit Featuring Truman Capote Opens at Brooklyn Historical Society

For those into photography, David Attie is a 20th century artist who is hard to forget. However, his passing in the 1980s resulted in him being largely forgotten by the mainstream. But a recent rediscovery displayed at the Brooklyn Historical Society has resulted in a new appreciation for his work.

Photo by David Attie via Brooklyn Historical Society.

David Attie’s humble beginnings started when he studied under Alexey Brodovitch, an artist that also trained Richard Avedon and Irving Penn. Through this teacher, he was able to meet Truman Capote, writer of In Cold Blood and Breakfast at Tiffany’s, a relationship that launched his career when Attie shot the Holiday Magazine spread for the audacious writer.

Now, this was where the story started, and it seemed to have ended in the 1980s when Attie passed away. However, his son Eli, years later, discovered lost photos from that shoot, which has led to the latest exhibit at the Brooklyn Historical Society and a surprise resurgence of his father’s work.

In association with David’s son Eli and widow Dotty Attie, the Brooklyn Historical Society presents “Truman Capote’s Brooklyn: The Lost Photographs of David Attie,” which opens officially on July 20 and runs through July 2017.

On the eve of the opening, Untapped Cities got an early tour of the quaint exhibit in the Brooklyn Historical Society. The workers were just putting the final touches on the sky blue and white walls, which feature wood-framed portraits of Attie’s work.

“It is and is not [ready],” said Marcia Ely, the Vice President of Programs and External Affairs at the historical society. “We’re just drilling in the final touches.”

The lost photos were found by Eli in a manila envelope marked ‘Holiday, Capote A3/58,’ which contained both “negatives and a contact sheet” from the Capote shoot. All in all, only four of the photographs were published in the Holiday spread, and around 800 negatives were later found, according to the press release.

Photo by David Attie via Brooklyn Historical Society.

Among the photos of Truman Capote, there were portraits of W.E.B Du Bois and the famous Brooklyn Heights neighborhood. Some of these pictures were later featured in a 2015 reissue of Capote’s Brooklyn: A Personal Memoir.

These images will be on display along with “three original prints of photographic montages that Attie created for Breakfast at Tiffany’s, signed Capote letters about the project, an assortment of David Attie’s contact sheets with the original grease markings” and quotes from Capote’s aforementioned Brooklyn memoir, according to the press release.

Photo by David Attie via Brooklyn Historical Society.

Photo by David Attie via Brooklyn Historical Society.

For more information on the exhibit or the Brooklyn Historical Society, visit the center’s website.

Next, read about Documentary About Nathan’s Famous Hot Dogs Screens at Brooklyn Historical Society.