Cliff Chandler is best known for his photographs of Duke Ellington. In 1982 at the Ledel Gallery in SoHo his photographs taken of Duke Ellington in a recording session in 1968 was a major part of a very successful exhibit, and his street photography that was titled "Social Contrast in the Black Community," were a major part of the show. Those are beautiful pictures of black people in New York and, more than that, very strong statements about the social conditions of urban blacks in this country. The more striking quality in Chandler’s images is that those people are individuals, not just tokens of a situation. The picture of a man loitering somewhere is not any man, but a portrait of that particular one. As he gets so near his subjects, so do we. And, as Chandler sees them with tenderness and respect, we too see them much better than through our own eyes. At a time when social issues are so full of hatred, it takes a great man to make his statements with love--and a great photographer to say it so beautifully and, in the same instance, so much to the point.

Art Speak: Vol IV, No 2,September 16, 1982