WHITE PLAINS, NY.- The 150 photographs on display in ArtsWestchester’s fall exhibition, Celebrities: We Remember Them Well are a far cry from tabloid gossip. Unique for their quality and poignancy, the works are artful images of the last half-century’s most illustrious and influential personages. Combing prominent gallery and private collections, Westchester-based curator Milton J. Ellenbogen has assembled a selection of vintage, candid photographs and exquisite studio portraits. The exhibition runs from September 21-November 10.

Many of the photographs on display are rare, their negatives impossible to locate, or the subjects typically elusive. The collection draws back the velvet curtain to offer visitors a privileged view into the lives of such prominent figures as Marilyn Monroe, Louis Armstrong, Frank Lloyd Wright, Pablo Picasso, Katherine Hepburn, Spike Lee, President Obama, and Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.

Exhibited photographs grant private access to the 20th century’s greatest artists, capturing a moment of a creative genius at work or a tender scene from the artist’s often inaccessible private life beyond their studio.

• Highlighted in the exhibition are famed New York City photojournalist Allan Tannenbaum’s intimate portraits of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The couple had lived in seclusion for five years when, in the fall of 1980, Tannenbaum photographed them for the SoHo Weekly News. Ten days later, Lennon was shot outside his New York apartment. Among the last photos of the couple together, Tannenbaum’s prints are treasured images of a timeless icon.

• In one image, the notoriously camera-shy director Spike Lee poses for photographer Barbara Alper against the New York City skyline.

• A group portrait of Henry Fonda, Mary Martin, Rex Harrison, and Yvonne Adair is a highly coveted vintage print by Richard Avedon, one of America’s greatest portrait and fashion photographers.

• Well-known photographer Tony Vaccaro (New Rochelle, NY) allowed Ellenbogen, the curator, access to his archives, which includes glimpses of Jackson Pollock at work and alongside his wife, Lee Krasner, in their East Hampton home and studio.

“We’re pleased to welcome Westchester-based curator Milton Ellenbogen to our gallery,” says ArtsWestchester CEO Janet Langsam. “With a specialty in fine art photography, his expertise was priceless in putting together such a striking exhibition. His keen eye for superior artwork shows in the quality and prestige of the show.”

"The photographs are poignant and lively time capsules that pay homage to the public figures that have colored and shaped our lives. The faces are familiar. The images invoke memories that transcend the realm of celebrity and touch us all,” says Mr. Ellenbogen. “A show such as this brings together the most dramatic and touching moments experienced by both subjects and viewers.”