Highlights from UCLA's collections: the James Arkatov Photograph Collection

James Arkatov was born in 1920 in Odessa, Russia and raised in San Francisco, where his father, Alexander Arkatov, owned a photography salon.  In 1938, he was invited by Fritz Feiner to join the Pittsburgh Symphony.  Later, he joined the San Francisco Symphony with Pierre Monteux, and went on to be principal cellist of the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Fabien Sevitzky.  Arkatov returned to California in 1946 as a studio musician and was later appointed principal cellist of the NBC Symphony Orchestra.  In 1956, he married Salome Ramras Arkatov. 

Photo: Pablo Casals with James Arkatov, 1956

In 1968, he founded the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra (LACO) and was its first principal cellist.  According to LACO: "The Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra was founded in 1968 as an artistic outlet for the recording industry’s most gifted musicians. The Orchestra’s artistic founder, cellist James Arkatov, envisioned an ensemble that would allow these conservatory-trained players to balance studio work and teaching with pure artistic collaboration at the highest level."

Arkatov began photographing musicians when he was with the Pittsburgh Symphony.  In 1990, he published his first book, Masters of Music: Great Artists at Work.  In 1998, he published his second book, Artists: The Creative Personality.

UCLA Library Special Collections holds the James Arkatov Photograph Collection.  The collection consists of nearly 3000 photographs of musicians and fine artists taken by Arkatov.  The photographs are in the process of being digitized and almost 800 of these images are now available online via the UCLA Digital Library.  You can also search the collection finding aid on the Online Archive of California (OAC). 

Eartha Kitt, 1995 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Ravi Shankar, 1997 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Herb Albert, 1996 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Carlos Montoya, 1985 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Claudia Acuña, 2002 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Gerald Wilson, 1996 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Isaac Stern, 1958 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Isaac Stern, 1986 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Kenny Burrell, 1997 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Does anyone else recognize that t-shirt?  It's from the Society of Ethnomusicology (SEM) 40th Annual Conference in 1995, held in Los Angeles and hosted by UCLA.  Steve Loza was local arrangments chair and A.J. Racy designed that t-shirt. 

Patrice Rushen, 1996 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Sherman Ferguson, 1996 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

Tony Bennett, 1998 - James Arkatov Collection (Collection 340). Performing Arts Special Collections, University of California, Los Angeles.

The collection also includes "unidentified" performers, in this case, "Unidentifed Female Musician," so if you can help Library Special Collections identify musicians, please do so. 

And because Arkatov was a musician, I had to include some of his work.

In The Wee Small Hours Of The Morning by Frank Sinatra (Arkatov on cello) ℗ 1998 Capitol Records, LLC.

Copyright restrictions for the James Arkatov Photograph Collection:  Property rights to the physical object belong to the UCLA Library, Performing Arts Special Collections. Literary rights, including copyright, are retained by the creators and their heirs. It is the responsibility of the researcher to determine who holds the copyright and pursue the copyright owner or his or her heir for permission to publish where The UC Regents do not hold the copyright.