Local Gallery Show: Leonard Freed – The Photographer’s Odyssey
The Mikhail Zakin Gallery Presents: Leonard Freed – The Photographer’s Odyssey
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Leonard Freed (1929–2006) was one of the great humanist photographers of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries. A longtime Magnum Photos member, Freed documented the Civil Rights Movement, postwar Europe, Jewish life, law enforcement in New York City, and the quiet poetry of life around the world.
What made his work distinctive was not spectacle, but gesture—the tilt of a head, the slump of a shoulder, the intimacy of physical presence. His photographs are quiet acts of witnessing, revealing the emotional truths that formal histories often miss.
This exhibition features Freed’s most iconic images, printed by fine art photographer Hank Gans, Freed’s close friend and collaborator for 36 years. At Freed’s encouragement, Gans began interpreting his images digitally in 1997—a process that, over time, evolved into museum-grade prints with archival permanence and extraordinary tonal depth.
These fine art prints of Freed’s photographs are not mere reproductions of what has been printed before; guided by decades of close friendship, shared memory, and an enduring artistic dialogue, they are faithfully interpreted in the digital darkroom. Through precise tonal refinements, detail recovery, and grain reduction, Gans brings forward subtle elements once constrained by the limitations of film and conventional darkroom techniques—preserving the emotional depth and visual power of Freed’s vision, charged with the drama and poetry of life.
Leonard Freed—The Photographer’s Odyssey will be displayed from July 1 to July 28, 2025. The opening reception will be on Thursday, July 10, from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM.
The Mikhail Zakin Gallery, at 561 Piermont Rd, Demarest, NJ 07627, is part of The Art School at Old Church. Founded in 1974, it today serves over 5,000 participants annually through its visual arts programming and exhibitions.
