San Francisco Art Exchange Presents A Photographic Exhibition: 'Martin Luther King, Jr. & Robert F. Kennedy: Commemorating Two Great Americans'

The exhibition will run from April through June 2018, marking the 50th anniversaries of the assassinations of these leaders. Dr. King was shot and killed on April 4, 1968 and Bobby Kennedy was shot and killed June 6, 1968.

"As a pictorial narrative of their public lives as social and political leaders, we want visitors to walk away pondering what kind of country America would be today if both of these leaders were still with us," says Theron Kabrich, gallery cofounder and creative director. "We hope this exhibition encourages reflection that goes beyond one about leadership and events of the past, but just as much or more about leadership and events of the present and future."

Both King and Kennedy were relentless in their pursuit of justice, not being deterred by challenge but compelled to push back for a greater good and to speak the truth as they saw it with directness and clarity. "I am persuaded," Kabrich says, "that each in their own way would have continued to be driving forces in the pursuit of justice on behalf of the underserved and neglected to the present day."

The extraordinary images of these men in various environments, a number of them being shown for the first time, allow some of us to remember and others of us to imagine what they were like, who they were, and why their legacies mean so much even now.

"We all have heroes and heroines who we look up to and admire, figures who inspire us," Kabrich says. "I believe a few of us, though, actually take inspiration to a level beyond inspiration, to aspiration. These people, leaders of the past and of the future, aspired to actually emulate the person that inspires them, to become like that person. In the case of Dr. King, for example, it was Ghandi."

The current exhibition will surely inspire visitors during these three months as the walls of San Francisco Art Exchange will be filled with iconic images of two great men. The gallery also hopes the photographs on display will stimulate a few young people to believe enough in their own dreams to aspire to become leaders and change agents of their generation as had been Dr. King and Bobby in their own. "In some ways," Kabrich says, "the kids in Parkland, Florida are fearless enough and smart enough to strive for something greater than themselves. How refreshing to see such noble audacity - a characteristic of the men whose images are on our walls."

Many of the photographs on display are well known and include images that most people will recognize. Other photographs, however, will be seen for the first time - some of the rarest photos were printed in the early 1960s. All prints are signed by the photographers and will be for sale.

About San Francisco Art Exchange
The San Francisco Art Exchange focuses on popular iconography from the worlds of film, art, music and history guided by the thesis that popular iconography is the language a culture uses to speak to itself in real time and later memorializes those communications as important parts of historical record.

SFAE has sold original artwork of iconic album covers for the Beatles, Pink Floyd, the Rolling Stones and Bob Dylan, among many others. The gallery has also concluded landmark sales of rare photographs of Marilyn Monroe, Martin Luther King, Jr., Johnny Cash and Muhammad Ali, to name a few. In addition, SFAE has represented treasured music and movie-related artifacts from private and celebrity archives, such as the Playboy Collection and the Brown Derby Collection.

At its downtown San Francisco gallery, SFAE has hosted live events by everyone from music superstars Brian Wilson and Graham Nash, to civil rights legend Clarence Jones and Michigan governor Jennifer Granholm. The gallery's most recent project was the sale of a rare portfolio of photographs of President John F. Kennedy, celebrating the centennial of his birth in cooperation with the Kennedy Foundation, with a percentage of the proceeds benefitting the foundation.

For sales and inquiries, please contact: San Francisco Art Exchange [email protected] or call 415-441-8840.

For more information:
http://www.sfae.com/   

SOURCE San Francisco Art Exchange

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