© Arthur Griffin.  Courtesy of the Griffin Museum of Photography, Winchester, MA. Above: Ted Williams, 1939.

In 1939, Eastman Kodak had just introduced a new color film to the market. The company contacted photographer Arthur Griffin, who was working for the Boston Globe on a story about the Boston Red Sox then rookie, Ted Williams, to experiment with the new color film. After fulfilling his assignment for the paper, Griffin photographed Williams with a large format 4×5 camera as he practiced his batting stance and swing. Unseen for close to a half century, Griffin’s images represent the first color photographs ever taken of Williams, and comprise one of the largest collections of photographs of the Red Sox great early on in his storied career. Let’s Play Ball, an exhibition celebrating our national pastime and the boys of summer, will be on view at the Panopticon Gallery from July 14 – September 6, 2011. This exhibition will feature photographs by David Levinthal, Arthur Griffin, Ernest Withers and others.

-courtesy Panopticon Gallery