Famed Selma photographer Jerry Siegel to be featured by Selma Art Guild

Famed published photographer and Selma native Jerry Siegel will be the Selma Art Guild’s featured artist for the months of October and November.

There will be a reception and show in his honor on Sunday, Oct. 4 from 2-4 p.m. at the SAG Gallery located at 508 Selma Ave.

Siegel is also currently featured in Uncommon Lens at the Paul R. Jones Museum in Tuscaloosa, AL this October. That exhibition is derived from Siegel’s portraits, taken throughout much of his career.

Siegel’s photographs include such artists as Larry Allen, Amalia Amaki, Fahamu Pecou, Thornton Dial, William Anderson, Benny Andrews, Tin Man Charlie Lucas and Roscoe Hall. 

A selection Siegel’s work was also recently selected for the permanent collection of the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Museums in Washington, D.C.

Jerry Siegel was born and raised in Selma, graduated from Morgan Academy and the Art Institute of Atlanta. A selection of Siegel’s works will be featured at the SAG Galley in Selma beginning Oct. 4 and remain up for view through the months of October and November on Saturdays from 10 a.m.-2 p.m.

His first monograph, Facing South: Portraits of Southern Artists, was published by the University of Alabama Press, and features portraits of 100 Southern artists. The body of work was featured in solo exhibitions in six museums in Alabama, Georgia and Louisiana. His second book, Black Belt Color, was published by the Georgia Museum of Art in Athens, Ga., and documents the cultural landscape of Alabama's Black Belt region and remains an ongoing body of work. 

At This Moment is his most recent book, commissioned and published by the Greenville County Museum of Art, Greenville, SC. He said it captures 78 artists with significant ties to South Carolina's artistic legacy — among them Jasper Johns and Shepard Fairey.

Siegel will be bringing Facing South: Portraits of Southern Artists and At This Moment to the reception and show at the SAG Gallery.

Siegel's work in public, private and corporate collections have included the Do Good Fund, High Museum of Art, GA Museum of Art, Birmingham Museum of Art and more. 

In the past 19 years, his work has been acquired by 16 museums throughout the Southeastern United States.

His work has also been shown in solo exhibitions and in the permanent collection at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art in New Orleans, the Museum of Contemporary Art of Georgia in Atlanta, The Telfair Museums, Jepson Center for the Arts in Savannah, GA, Montgomery Museum of Art in Montgomery, AL, The Morris Museum in Augusta, ­­­­­GA, The Jule Colins Smith Museum in Auburn, AL, and The Mobile Museum of Art, Mobile, AL. 

Thirteen portraits by Alabama photographer Jerry Siegel were acquired for the permanent collection of the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C.

Siegel, 68, said, “I am fifth generation, born and raised in Selma. My parents were Sara Jane and Schuster Siegel. I attended John T. Morgan Academy, and I just celebrated my 50th high school reunion.” He is married to Patti Siegel, and they have one son, Jeff Hathcoat. 

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He said his first camera was a Pentax K1000, given to him on his 19^th birthday. And while at University of South Alabama he went with a friend to a night class, continuing education on photography. 

He said, “The first night the teacher shared work by the Masters of Photography. The only one I remember is Diane Arbus. I was hooked and started shooting people on the streets in Mobile, New Orleans and Selma.”

Shortly after, and with the help and encouragement of his parents, he attended the Art Institute of Atlanta for a two-year technical degree. 

He said he started working with Arington Hendley while a student and continued to work for him for five years until he opened his own commercial photography studio in Atlanta 1986.

Siegel said, “I shot advertising photography, annual reports, product photography, photographed the Atlanta Hawks from 1982-97 and traveled all around the country for the Boys & Girls Clubs of America.” 

He said in 2005 he had his first art first show in a gallery and began that side of his work. He said he still has a few commercial clients but works more with galleries and museums. 

Siegel said his photographs are held in more than 20 public museums and institutional collections, including the National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; the High Museum of Art, Atlanta; the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts; the Ackland Art Museum; and the Museum of Contemporary Art Georgia., MMFA, and Birmingham Museum of Art and the Jule Collins Smith Museum in Auburn. 

“I am not sure I have a philosophy but would say my work is grounded in the traditions of portraiture and documentary photography,” Siegel said. “Respect is a core principle. Respect for the people who allow me to make their photographs, and for the land and place where I grew up and made photographs. I love documenting the Black Belt, the place and its people.”

Siegel said, “I love making photos of people. I love connecting with them and hearing their stories.”

He said, “I am thrilled to show at the Selma Art Guild. I was not an artist growing up but many friends were, and I was always aware of the (Selma) Art Guild. I've never really lost connection with Selma after being gone since 1976, but it’s special to show in my hometown.”

While Siegel has a home in Selma, he said, “I still consider myself Atlanta, still spending more time there because that’s where my work is. I go back and forth a lot.”

The Siegel show will remain up for view until the end of November on Saturdays from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m.

The Selma Art Guild, a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, was founded in the 1970s to promote and support local artists and give them an opportunity to show their work.