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Roundtable | On Nancy Lee Katz’s Photography
Sep 2 @ 12:00 pm - 1:00 pm
NANCY LEE KATZ: A PRIVATE PANTHEON PROGRAM
Join the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life for On Nancy Lee Katz’s Photography, a Lunch and Learn Roundtable discussion with exhibition curator Lauren Graves, master printer Brian Young, Katz’s life partner and photography collector, Michael S. Sachs, and Katz’s sister,Virginia Katz, sharing their perspectives on the work of photographer Nancy Lee Katz. Questions and discussion welcome.
All visitors are invited to bring their own brown bag lunch.
Wednesday, September 2, 2026
12:00 – 1:00 pm
In person at the Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, 2121 Allston Way, Berkeley, CA
RSVP
If you have any questions about accessibility or require accommodations to participate in this event, please contact us at magnes@berkeley.edu or call us at (510) 643-2526 with as much advance notice as possible.
About Lauren Graves
Lauren Graves is the associate curator of special collections at the Boston Athenaeum where she focuses on the photography collection. Her latest project is an exhibition on the bicentennial photography of Constantine Manos, Where’s Boston? 50 Years Later, that opened in June, 2026, with an accompanying catalogue Constantine Manos: Bostonians. Previously she held curatorial positions at the MIT Museum and the National Gallery of Art and has taught art history courses at Boston University. She holds a PhD in art history from Boston University and a MA from Temple University.
About Brian Young
Brian Young has dedicated himself to analog B&W photography since 1980. He moved to New York in 1984 to attend classes at the ICP in Documentary Photography. During this time, he explored the city and photographed what living there in the mid 80s was like. The East Harlem Project, a collaborative photo-slideshow documentary by eight photographers was produced. In 1986, he began assisting Eugene Richards in the processing and printing production of b&w images for Richards’ book, Below The Line: Living Poor in America. He continued this collaboration for over 25 years. He started Phototechnica Inc., an analog B&W studio in 1992 and has since printed for numerous other renown B&W photographers. He has produced book prints for over 20 important books and many more B&W exhibitions for museums around the world from a diverse group of exceptional international artists. He closed Phototechnica in 2016 but continues to print. In addition to being a Master Printer, Brian Young has taught B&W photography at the ICP since 1988 and has taught workshops in Brazil, Mexico and Spain. In today’s world of Digital Imaging, he continues collaborating with photographers who still believe in the unique beauty of film and the gelatin silver print. To this end, he published with Damiani Editore in 2016 a monograph: “The Train NYC 1984”. These images document New York’s graffiti strewn subway … where “the words of the prophets were written on the subway walls…” In a world transformed by digital technology, he is focused on producing film based imagery from his archive which he believes will result in another book…or two! He believes the contemplative nature of the analog photographic process is its most valuable asset given our current trending digital info-sphere of experience and knowledge. As with rock&roll music, B&W film photography will never die!
About Michael S. Sachs
Nancy and I were together for thirty-five years, the second half of her life. We went to concerts, operas, art exhibitions and movies in New York, and then spent weeks at a time with the most traditional peoples we could reach in remote regions of Africa and Indonesia. Nancy was fiercely independent. Socially adept, she talked with everyone. Remarkably, when she spoke to you there was no ego showing; it was all about you; perhaps that is what made it possible for her subjects to open up to her in the course of a one hour session. In her work there were three elements: the subject, the photographic image, and the photographer. No one else was permitted to participate; the closest I got was the garage at the Supreme Court. Similarly, she did not show her pictures to others or even mention them, wanting not to be consumed by chit-chat about the cultural icons she documented. At the age of 88, I am racing against time to foster a lasting legacy for her work. In addition, I am assembling a collection of 19th-century photographs for the Israel Museum, and preserving the largest collection of watercolors, drawings, prints and sculptures by M.C. Escher.
About Virginia Katz
Over the course of her prolific career, Virginia Katz, A.C.E, has edited acclaimed and award-winning features such as DREAMGIRLS, GODS AND MONSTERS, MR. HOLMES, THE GOOD LIAR, and KINSEY, all directed by frequent collaborator Bill Condon. In addition, Virginia edited the massively successful adaptations of THE TWILIGHT SAGA: BREAKING DAWN PART 1 & PART 2 and the live-action remake of BEAUTY AND THE BEAST for Disney (both directed by Condon as well). Virginia also edited the celebrated Christmas feature JINGLE JANGLE: A CHRISTMAS JOURNEY for Netflix, starring Forest Whitaker and produced by John Legend. Most recently, she co-edited the live recording for the Tony-nominated musical COME FROM AWAY which will premiere on Apple+ later this year.
About the exhibition
Nancy Lee Katz: A Private Pantheon explores the artist’s decades-long effort to photograph artists, writers, musicians, and thinkers she admired. Created in the intimate environments of personal studios and workplaces, these portraits look behind public accolades to reveal a quiet, private presence. Unfolding in two parts (fall and spring), the exhibition presents, for the first time, the entirety of Katz’s Pantheon.
All photos in image at the top are by Nancy Lee Katz. Gift of Michael S. Sachs, Magnes Collection of Jewish Art and Life, UC Berkeley, 2024.1.
