goliver845
Registered User
- Oct 1, 2019
- 83
- 98
As hockey fans, we've all seen the Graphic Artists photo credit or stamp on the back of photos, especially through the 1960s to the 1980s.
The man who ran Graphic Artists, Joe Black, just died on Oct. 20, 2020, in Toronto, at age 94.
He photographed everything from hockey to wrestling to Queen Elizabeth II to The Beatles.
A couple of years ago, I went around with Don Chubby, and interviewed a few old sports photographers, and one of them was Joe. It was a wonderful experience, even if his memory wasn't the greatest. At one point, he said, "don't you want to ask me about the Christie Pits Riots?" He was witness to those 1933 riots in Toronto, when he was only 7 years old, and Toronto reporters often reached out to him for that incident.
But no, we talked photography, and hockey, and wrestling, and so much more.
Fortunately, for us hockey fans, the Graphic Artists hockey archives are well preserved at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Here's a link to a small amount of Graphic Artists photos online at the HHOF:
https://www.hhof.com/htmlPhotoGalleries/gallery_gartists014.shtml
and the HHOF did a video interview with him:
After I spoke to his daughter on Saturday, I was able to write up a big feature on him, different versions will run elsewhere in the coming days, but this one is on my SlamWrestling.net website -- but pro wrestling is only a fraction of his story.
Joe Black was an iconic Toronto photographer - Slam Wrestling
The man who ran Graphic Artists, Joe Black, just died on Oct. 20, 2020, in Toronto, at age 94.
He photographed everything from hockey to wrestling to Queen Elizabeth II to The Beatles.
A couple of years ago, I went around with Don Chubby, and interviewed a few old sports photographers, and one of them was Joe. It was a wonderful experience, even if his memory wasn't the greatest. At one point, he said, "don't you want to ask me about the Christie Pits Riots?" He was witness to those 1933 riots in Toronto, when he was only 7 years old, and Toronto reporters often reached out to him for that incident.
But no, we talked photography, and hockey, and wrestling, and so much more.
Fortunately, for us hockey fans, the Graphic Artists hockey archives are well preserved at the Hockey Hall of Fame.
Here's a link to a small amount of Graphic Artists photos online at the HHOF:
https://www.hhof.com/htmlPhotoGalleries/gallery_gartists014.shtml
and the HHOF did a video interview with him:
After I spoke to his daughter on Saturday, I was able to write up a big feature on him, different versions will run elsewhere in the coming days, but this one is on my SlamWrestling.net website -- but pro wrestling is only a fraction of his story.
Joe Black was an iconic Toronto photographer - Slam Wrestling
