Vince Aletti Explained

Vince Aletti
Occupation:	Curator, writer, photography critic
Employer:	The New Yorker

Vince Aletti (born 1945) is a curator, writer, and photography critic.^[1]

Career

Music industry

Aletti was a contributing writer for Rolling Stone from 1970 to 1989. He was the first person to write about disco in an article published by the magazine in 1973. He gave a negative review to Funkadelic's Maggot Brain in 1971, describing it as "a shattered, desolate landscape with few pleasures," competently performed but "limited." He was particularly critical of the record's second side, panning it as "dead-end stuff," and asked "who needs this shit?"^[2]

He also wrote a weekly column about disco for the music trade magazine Record World^[3] (1974–1979), and reported about early clubs like David Mancuso's The Loft for The Village Voice in the late 1970s and 1980s. Aletti was a senior editor at The Village Voice for nearly 20 years until leaving in early 2005.^[4]

Aletti worked with New York deejay Ritchie Rivera to curate a double-album disco compilation for Polydor Records, which released it in 1978 as Steppin' Out: Disco's Greatest Hits. Music critic Robert Christgau found it superior to Casablanca Records' Get Down and Boogie and Marlin's Disco Party, writing in (1981): "Although local talent (Joe Simon, the Fatback Band) is represented, I find the spacey, lush-but-cool Euro-disco that predominates even more enticing, no doubt because the filler in which such music is usually swamped has been eliminated. New discoveries include the Chakachas' legendary 'Jungle Fever' and 'Running Away' by Roy Ayers, ordinarily the emptiest of 'jazz' pianists. This is disco the way it should be heard—as pure dance music, complete with risky changes."^[5]

In 1979 and 1980, Aletti also worked as the A&R Rep for Ray Caviano’s RFC Records.^[6]

Photography

Aletti is best known for his contributions to fine art photography.^[7] He reviewed photography exhibitions for The New Yorker until 2016.^[8]

Aletti has also curated numerous photography exhibitions,^[1] and has contributed writing for dozens of photography books. In 1998, Aletti was the curator of a highly praised exhibition of art and photography called Male, which was followed up in 1999 by Female, both at Wessel + O'Connor Gallery in New York. In conjunction with those shows, he was the co-editor the book "Male/Female: 105 photographs" published by Aperture in 1999, featuring his interview with Madonna, which was later anthologized in Da Capo's Best Music Writing (2000).

In 2000, he was the co-curator of an exhibition called Settings & Players: Theatrical Ambiguity in American Photography at London's White Cube.^[9] The following year Aletti organized Steven Klein American Beauty a retrospective exhibition of Steven Klein's fashion work for the Musée de l'Élysée in Lausanne, Switzerland.

Aletti was one of the two featured writers of The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century (2001).

In 2005, Aletti was the recipient of the Infinity Award for writing by The International Center for Photography.^[10]

Exhibitions curated by Aletti

• 1998: Male. Wessel + O'Connor Gallery, New York.^[11]
• 1999: Male/Female. Wessel + O'Connor Gallery, New York.
• 2000: Settings & Players: Theatrical Ambiguity in American Photography. White Cube, London.
• 2001: Steven Klein American Beauty. Musée de l’Élysée, Lausanne, Switzerland.
• 2008: Male: work from the collection of Vince Aletti. White Columns, New York.^[12]
• 2010: Dress Codes The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video. International Centre of Photography, New York. Curated with Kristen Lubben, Christopher Phillips, and Carol Squiers.^[13]

Bibliography

1990–1999

• Book: Essays by Stephen Koch and Thomas Sokolowski; interviews with Fran Lebowitz and Vince Aletti . Peter Hujar . New York . Grey Art Gallery and Study Center, New York University . 1990 . 093434907X,978-0934349079-->. ^[14]
• Book: Vince Aletti. Wayne Koestenbaum. Michael L. Sand . Male/female : 105 photographs . New York . Aperture Foundation . 1999 . 9780893818814-->.

2000–2009

• Settings and Players: Theatrical Ambiguity in American Photography. London: White Cube, 2001.
• Four Days in LA: The Versace Collection. London: White Cube, 2001.
• The Book of 101 Books: Seminal Photographic Books of the Twentieth Century. New York: PPP Editions, 2001.
• Snapshots: The Eye Of the Century. Berlin: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2004.
• David Hilliard. New York: Aperture, 2005.
• Ingar Krauss: Portraits. Berlin: Hatje Cantz Publishers, 2006.
• Mark Cohen:True Color. New York: powerHouse Books, 2007.
• Face of Fashion. New York: Aperture, 2007.
• Hedi Slimane: Rock Diary. Zurich: JRP|Ringier, 2008.
• Bruce of Los Angeles: Inside/Outside. New York: Antinous Press, 2008.
• Look at me: Photographs from Mexico City by Jed Fielding. Chicago: University Of Chicago Press, 2009.
• Avedon Fashion 1944-2000. New York: Harry N. Abrams, 2009.
• The Disco Files 1973-78: New York's Underground Week by Week. New York: DJhistory.com, 2009.

2010–2019

• Male: From the Collection of Vince Aletti. New York: PPP Editions, 2010.
• Aletti, Vince . June 7, 2010 . XX factor . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 86 . 16 . 17. 29 October 2011. Reviews the 'Pictures by Women: A History of Modern Photography' exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
• Michael Thompson: Portraits. Bologna: Damiani, 2011.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . April 4, 2011 . Flaming Creature . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 87 . 7 . 17. Discusses Mark Morrisroe.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . December 19–26, 2011 . Major League . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 87 . 41 . 12. Reviews the 'Radical Camera' exhibition at the Jewish Museum.
• Saul Leiter. Heidelberg: Kehrer Verlag, 2012.
• New York at Night: Photography After Dark. New York: powerHouse Books, 2012.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . January 16, 2012 . Super Nanny . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 87 . 44 . 6. Vivian Maier.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . November 26, 2012 . Reality Bites . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 88 . 37 . 14 . Reviews 'Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop' at the Metropolitan Museum of Art.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . February 4, 2013 . Ongoing concern . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 88 . 46 . 8. Retrospectives of Roman Vishniac and David Seymour at the International Center of Photography.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . April 1, 2013 . . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 89 . 7 . 10 . 2015-12-29-->. Retrospective of Bill Brandt at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA).
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . April 29, 2013 . . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 89 . 11 . 10 . 2016-04-29-->. Photography and the American Civil War at the Met.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . July 1, 2013 . . Goings on About Town. Critic's Notebook . The New Yorker . 89 . 19 . 10 . 2017-03-13-->. A Different Kind of Order at the International Center of Photography.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . November 4, 2013 . . Goings on About Town. Art . The New Yorker . 89 . 35 . 27 . 2017-09-17-->. War/Photography : Images of Armed Conflict and Its Aftermath.
• A Respect for Light: The Latin American Photographs: 1974-2008. New York: Glitterati, 2014.
• Peter Hujar: Love & Lust. San Francisco: Fraenkel Gallery, 2014.
• Mark Cohen: Dark Knees. Paris: Lebal, 2014.
• Stephen Irwin. Berlin: r/e projects, 2015.
• David Wojnarowicz: Brush Fires in the Social Landscape: Twentieth Anniversary Edition. New York: Aperture, 2015.
• Aletti, Vince . 1 . July 20, 2015 . . Goings On About Town. Art . The New Yorker . 91 . 20 . 9 . 2022-02-08-->. ^[15] Reviews the 'Sarah Charlesworth: Doubleworld' exhibition at the New Museum.
• Peter Hujar: Lost Downtown. New York: Pace MacGill Gallery, 2016.
• Issues: A History of Photography in Fashion Magazines. London/New York: Phaidon Press, 2019.

2020–

• Aletti, Vince . August 29, 2022 . [Untitled column] . In the Museums . The New Yorker . 98 . 26 . 5. Reviews the "William Klein: YES" retrospective at the International Center of Photography.

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Notes

External links

• Video: An Evening with Nan Goldin and Vince Aletti: Remembering Peter Hujar
• Video: Vince Aletti: Face of Fashion: Fashion Photography, Art Direction, and Magazine Design
• Video: Saul Leiter in Conversation with Vince Aletti
• Video: Vince Aletti on Peter Hujar’s Love & Lust
• Video: Talk with Mark Cohen and Vince Aletti at LE BAL, Paris
• Video: Joe Szabo & Vince Aletti | Rolling Stones Fans

Notes and References

1. News: Collecting the Male: Interview with Vince Aletti . 11 April 2021 . Interview Magazine . 3 December 2008.
2. Rolling Stone . Aletti. Vince. Vince Aletti. September 30, 1971. Funkadelic: Maggot Brain . https://web.archive.org/web/20090515031255/http://www.rollingstone.com/artists/funkadelic/albums/album/182886/review/5943228/maggot_brain. May 15, 2009 . dead . July 17, 2016.
3. Book: Broughton, Frank . La historia del DJ . 206–208 . 2007 . Ediciones Robinbook . 978-84-96222-58-8 .
4. Vince Aletti . 11 April 2021 . The New Yorker . en.
5. Book: Christgau, Robert. Robert Christgau. 1981. . Ticknor & Fields. 089919026X. Consumer Guide '70s: S. https://www.robertchristgau.com/get_chap.php?k=S&bk=70. March 13, 2019. robertchristgau.com.
6. News: The New Disco Elite . . March 26, 1979 . 37 .
7. News: Vince Aletti: Curator, Collector, Writer Extraordinaire Glitteratiincorporated . 11 April 2021 . glitteratiinc.com.
8. Vince Aletti . The New Yorker . 11 April 2021 . en.
9. News: White Cube . 11 April 2021 . whitecube.com.
10. Web site: 2005 Infinity Award: Writing . International Center of Photography . 11 April 2021 . en . 23 February 2016.
11. Web site: Wessel + O'Connor Fine Art About the Gallery . wesseloconnor.com . 11 April 2021.
12. Web site: Male Work from the collection of Vince Aletti . 11 April 2021.
13. Web site: Dress Codes: The Third ICP Triennial of Photography and Video . 2023-12-24.
14. Catalogue of an exhibition held at the Grey Art Gallery & Study Center, New York University, Jan. 17-Feb. 24, 1990, and the Fine Arts Gallery, University of British Columbia, Vancouver, B.C., Canada, Aug. 1-Sept. 15, 1990.
15. Online version is titled "'Sarah Charlesworth: Double World [sic]'".