Special Collections Finding Aids

Louis Ouzer Photographs - Photographs

Accession: SC1998.21

Location: M2A 4,5-6

Size: 1.5 feet

Biography: Louis Ouzer is a local Rochester photographer of national reputation for his portrait photographs of musicians. Ouzer has operated as a photographer in Rochester since the 1930's. Early in his career much of his work came to center on the activities of Eastman School of Music. Eventually he opened a photgraphic studio on Gibbs St. in the Lincoln Building, near Eastman School. Because of this convenient proximity, Ouzer came to serve as the unofficial School photographer. His photographs span six decades of the School's existence and are extremely well known by its students, faculty and alumni.

Provenance: Louis Ouzer donated the collection to Sibley Music Library on the occasion of the publication of his book "Contemporary Musicians in Photographs."

Scope and Content: The collection contains photographs that span from the 1940's through the 1980's. The bulk are concentrated from 1960-1980. The collection is an excellent photographic documentation of many of the most notable American musicians of the last half of the 20th century.

Associations: Watanabe Special Collections holds the Eastman School Photo Archive, among the contents of which are hundreds of images by Louis Ouzer. The department holds a selected collection of the photographs of another eminent local photographer, Alexander Leventon.

Restrictions: The images are all under copyright by Louis Ouzer.

Series: 1

Series Name: Photographs

Series Description: The series consists of portrait photographs of famous musicians and is organized into two format sizes and alphabetically therein.