IN MEMORIAM: SEDAT PAKAY
1945-2016
Sedat Pakay at James Baldwin's apartment while filming From Another Place, 1970.
Sedat Pakay, photographer and filmmaker, died Saturday, August 20th at his home in Hudson, New York. Born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1945, Sedat was a graduate of Robert College in Istanbul. He studied with the legendary photographer Walker Evans at the Yale School of Art, where he received his MFA degree in 1968. After graduation, he freelanced in New York City and photographed for magazines such as HOLIDAY, NEW YORK, and ESQUIRE.
Sedat's photographs have been exhibited and published internationally. Since 1967, he had an ongoing project shooting portraits of well-known artists in various disciplines; his subjects included James Baldwin, Andy Warhol, Mark Rothko, Josef Albers, Gordon Parks, and countless others. In the late Sixties, two of his photographs were accepted to the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and one of his photographs, a portrait of author James Baldwin, was exhibited at the Smithsonian Museum in 1969 and was later included in the Museum's collection.
During the last two decades, along with his photographic work, he produced numerous commercial and documentary films. Two of his documentaries were broadcast nationally on PBS.
He is survived by his wife of 41 years, Kathleen Pakay, his son Timur, daughter-in-law Stephanie, grandson Oliver, two sisters Ayse and Nilay, and many nephews and nieces.
Click on the film images below for further information and for purchase, or contact Hudson Film Works.
JOSEF AND ANNI ALBERS: ART IS EVERYWHERE (57 min.)
Josef Albers had enormous influence as a teacher, writer, painter and color theorist. First a student, then a master, at the legendary Bauhaus in Germany, he immigrated to the United States, where he taught at Black Mountain College and Yale University.
His wife, Anni Albers, was considered one of the foremost textile artists of the twentieth century. JOSEF AND ANNI ALBERS: ART IS EVERYWHERE is the first and only documentary to revel the work and the lives of the artists in tandem. It includes rarely seen archival photographs and film footage of the Alberses. Nationally broadcast on PBS. To order, please contact Hudson Film Works.
Walker Evans/America (57 min.)
The film profiles the great American photographer Walker Evans (1903-1975) whose style inspired an entire generation of photographers.
It contains interviews with Evans, recorded by the filmmaker while he studied with Evans at Yale University, and rare footage of museum curators, academics, and friends speaking on camera about the photographer. Narrated by E.G. Marshall. Nationally broadcast on PBS. To order, please contact Hudson Film Works.
James Baldwin: From Another Place (12 min.)
It was shot in Istanbul, Turkey, where Baldwin was living and writing. In the film, the author talks about living abroad, the black experience in America, and his controversial private life. Portions of this film were incorporated into the American Masters/PBS biography of the author. To order, please contact Hudson Film Works.
Walker Evans – His Time, His Presence, His Silence (20 min.)
This 1970 film by Sedat Pakay featured many of Walker Evans' individual photographic prints and reminiscences by the famous photographer about his work. The film's score features music by Sidney Bechet and his New Orleans Feetwarmers, Al Jolson and the Andrews Sisters, and the Goldman Band. To order, please contact Hudson Film Works.