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George Kalinsky photographs

Call Number

PR 325

Date

1955, 1965-2017, inclusive

Creator

Kalinsky, George, 1936-

Extent

15 Linear feet (approximately 154 photographic prints in 8 boxes)

Language of Materials

The collection is photographic. Any text is in English.

Abstract

Approximately 154 color and black-and-white photographs that comprised two exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society: "I Am King of the World": Photographs of Muhammad Ali by George Kalinsky (2016-2017), and "New York Through the Lens of George Kalinsky (2018), which focused on well-known sports figures and popular entertainers who appeared at Madison Square Garden, where Kalinsky has been official photographer since 1966.

Biographical Note

Sports and entertainment photographer George Kalinsky (b. 1936, Hempstead, N.Y.) landed the job of official photographer for Madison Square Garden in 1966, a year after bluffing his way into Muhammad Ali's workout session there. The two men became fast friends, and Kalinsky captured on film the seminal events of "the great one's" career until Ali's death in 2016.

Kalinsky's award-winning work (he was named PMDA International Photographer of the Year in 2001) has been shown throughout the world, and is found in the permanent collections of the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame, the National Baseball Hall of Fame, the Jewish Museum of New York, Cornell University, and the New-York Historical Society.

For more information visit the photographer's website: georgekalinsky.com.

Arrangement

The collection is organized in two series:

Series I. Images from "I Am King of the World": Photographs of Muhammad Ali by George Kalinsky (1965-1999).

Series II. Images from "New York Through the Lens of George Kalinsky" (1955, 1965-2017).

Scope and Contents

The collection contains approximately 154 color and black-and-white photographic prints that formed the basis of two exhibitions at the New-York Historical Society, both curated by Dr. Marilyn S. Kushner, Head, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections. The first, "I Am King of the World": Photographs of Muhammad Ali by George Kalinsky, ran concurrently with a related exhibition, "Muhammad Ali, LeRoy Neiman, and the Art of Boxing," from December 11, 2016 through March 26, 2017. "I Am King of the World" presented through Kalinsky's images seminal career highlights of boxer Muhammad Ali (1942–2016), including

• Ali working out at the 5th Street Gym, Miami; speaking to sportscaster Howard Cosell (1965)
• training at Madison Square Garden; his bout vs. Zora Folley (1967)
• rivalry with basketball great Wilt Chamberlain; his bout vs. Joe Frazier, called the "Fight of the Century" (1971)
• training at Deer Lake, Pennsylvania for his bout vs. Floyd Patterson (1972)
• promoting his fight with Ken Norton at Yankee Stadium; signing autographs at the Concord Resort Hotel in the Catskills (1976)
• his bout vs. Earnie Shavers (1977)
• sitting ringside at WrestleMania (1984)
• receiving Sports Illustrated's Sportsman of the Century award (1999)

The second exhibition, New York Through the Lens of George Kalinsky, ran from February 2 through September 30, 2018. Although largely given to shots of famous athletes, the exhibition also embraced images of singers, dancers, and other performers—virtually anyone notable who appeared at Madison Square Garden, where Kalinsky has been official photographer since 1966. Subjects include figures from the worlds of

Baseball: Yogi Berra, Joe DiMaggio, Gil Hodges, Ralph Kiner, Jerry Koosman, Willie Mays, Jesse Orosco, Mike Piazza, Mariano Rivera, Jackie Robinson, Tom Seaver, Casey Stengel

Basketball: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar, Bill Bradley, Wilt Chamberlain, Julius Erving, Patrick Ewing, Walt Frazier, Red Holzman, Michael Jordan, Spike Lee (as a fan), Earl Monroe, Shaquille O'Neal, Kristaps Porziņģis, Willis Reed, Marvin "Mendy" Rudolph, Bill Russell

Boxing: Muhammad Ali, Ringo Bonavena, John F. X. Condon, Zora Folley, Joe Frazier, Emile Griffith, Sugar Ray Leonard, Ken Norton, Floyd Patterson, Earnie Shavers

Comedy: Whoopi Goldberg, Otto Griebling, Bob Hope

Dance: Mikhail Baryshnikov, Judith Jamison

Figure skating: Peggy Fleming

Football: Jim Brown, Eli Manning, Joe Namath, O. J. Simpson

Hockey: Emile Francis, Wayne Gretzky, Henrik Lundqvist, Mark Messier

Music: Tony Bennett, Leonard Bernstein, Bono, David Bowie, Aaron Copland, Bing Crosby, Bob Dylan, Aretha Franklin, Judy Garland, Dizzy Gillespie, Jimi Hendrix, Lena Horne, Michael Jackson, Billy Joel, Elton John, Janis Joplin, Alicia Keys, John Lennon, Madonna, Luciano Pavarotti, Elvis Presley, Diana Ross, Frank Sinatra, Bruce Springsteen, Andy Williams

Religion: Pope John Paul II

Television: Howard Cosell, Walter Cronkite, Ed Sullivan

Tennis: Roger Federer, Billie Jean King, John McEnroe, Juan Martín del Potro, Sloane Stephens, Serena Williams, Venus Williams

Access Restrictions

Available by advance appointment only. To schedule an appointment, contact the Print Room Librarian at printroom@nyhistory.org.

Use Restrictions

Photocopying undertaken by staff only. Limited to 20 exposures of stable, unbound material per day. Application to use images from this collection for publication should be made in writing to: Department of Rights and Reproductions, The New-York Historical Society, 170 Central Park West, New York, NY 10024-5194, rightsandrepro@nyhistory.org. Phone: (212) 873-3400 ext. 282.

Copyrights and other proprietary rights may subsist in individuals and entities other than the New-York Historical Society, in which case the patron is responsible for securing permission from those parties. For fuller information about rights and reproductions from N-YHS visit: https://www.nyhistory.org/about/rights-reproductions

Preferred Citation

This collection should be cited as the George Kalinsky Photographs, PR 325, Department of Prints, Photographs, and Architectural Collections, The New-York Historical Society.

Immediate Source of Acquisition

Purchased from George Kalinsky, 2016-2018.

Collection processed by

Joseph Ditta

About this Guide

This finding aid was produced using ArchivesSpace on 2023-08-21 15:51:16 -0400.
Using Describing Archives: A Content Standard
Language: English

Processing Information

Processed by archivist Joseph Ditta in April 2017. Revised and expanded to include Series II, December 2018.

Repository

New-York Historical Society
New-York Historical Society
170 Central Park West
New York, NY 10024