Ronald E. Galella Endowed Scholarship for Photography

The Ron Galella Endowed Scholarship was created by alumnus Ron Galella (BFA 57 Photography) to support advanced students in the Photography and Imaging Program who demonstrate both financial need and merit.

In a recent ArtCenter Storyboard article https://www.artcenter.edu/about/support/storyboard/ron-galella.html, Galella reminisced about his time at ArtCenter:
“More than anything, ArtCenter taught me one simple truth that has continued to inform and enhance my creative process throughout the long course of my life, and it’s this: don’t think in a vacuum. Think on your feet. If something’s not working, use what you have at your disposal and turn your losing situation into a winning one.

Time with my professors instilled in me the value of observation and letting the art that is happening all around you – all those seemingly ordinary moments – inform the fabric of everything that you do. It may seem like just noise, but it’s actually the music of ordinary human interaction. That alone can provide you with a never-ending degree of inspiration if you take some time to stop and just listen."

Galella’s passion for the fine art of photography, coupled with a dedicated do-it-yourself approach to making his own custom prints in his darkroom, has seen Galella’s work included in the collections of museums and art galleries throughout the world, including at the Museum of Modern Art in New York and San Francisco, the Tate Modern in London, and the Helmut Newton Foundation Museum of Photography in Berlin.

His devotion to photography led to the publishing of twenty-two books, including Disco Years, which was honored as “Best Photography Book” of 2006 by the New York Times. In 2010, Oscar-winner Leon Gast directed Smash His Camera, a documentary of Galella’s life and career. Smash His Camera premiered at the 2010 Sundance Film Festival, where it received the Grand Jury Award for “Best Director” in the US Documentary category.

Dubbed “Paparazzo Extraordinaire” by Newsweek, and “the Godfather of US Paparazzi Culture” by Time and Vanity Fair, Galella was clearly willing to take great risks in getting the perfect off-guard picture. Galella endured two highly publicized court battles with his favorite subject, Jacqueline Kennedy-Onassis, a broken jaw and teeth at the hand of Marlon Brando, and a serious beating by Richard Burton’s bodyguards before being jailed in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Jacqueline(1974), Galella’s first autobiographical book, sold over 10,000 copies, one of which was given to Mrs. Onassis, who kept it in her library until she passed. That book is now kept, along with a copy of Jackie: My Obsession, in the JFK Library, which also houses hundreds of Galella’s photographs from the 1972 and 1981 trials. Galella lectured at the University of Miami’s Wilson Hicks International Visual Communications Conference in 1973, presenting “Photography with the Paparazzo Approach,” which saw him dubbed “Paparazzo Superstar” by the Miami Herald. Galella’s pictures are also installed on each of the eleven floors of the landmark Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel.

A native New Yorker, born in the Bronx, Galella served four years in the US Air Force as a camera repairman and photographer during the Korean conflict of 1951-1955. Later, under the GI Bill, Galella attended ArtCenter, graduating with a bachelor’s degree in photojournalism. His work can be found at https://rongalella.com on instagram https://www.instagram.com/ron_galella/?hl=en and his photography is represented for editorial publishing through Getty Images.

Ronald E. Galella, this most famous and controversial celebrity photojournalist in the world, died on April 30, 2022 at his home in Montville, New Jersey. He was 91 years old.

“P.S. If I’m not invited into the pearly gates of heaven, I just might try sneaking in …”