'More American Photographs' offers a glimpse of America's recession

In the 1930s and '40s, the federal Farm Security Administration ran a photography program headed by Roy E. Stryker to document the plight of rural farm workers affected by the Great Depression. It launched the careers of many extraordinary photographers, including Walker Evans, Dorothea Lange and Gordon Parks.

Inspired by the mission of this program, curator Jens Hoffmann incorporated those classic images alongside newly commissioned works from contemporary photographers assigned to capture life in an America reeling from the so-called Great Recession. The result: "More American Photographs," an exhibition of 100 works from past and present at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver.

Brigitte Bardot comes to Hollywood

The elusive Brigitte Bardot has been seen in Hollywood. Well, not exactly. "BB Forever," an exhibition of photographs celebrating the life of the French actress and cultural obsession, is on display at the Hotel Sofitel.

The seldom-seen blond beauty, who retired from acting in 1973, gave her blessing for the show, a collaboration between the hotel chain and French journalist and author Henry-Jean Servat, who is also the curator.

"I could not have done it without her permission," said Servat, who has known Bardot for 25 years. He wrote "Bardot: La Légende" in 2009 and produced an exhibition a few years ago at Musée des Années 30 Espace Landowski in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt.

PHOTOS: Brigitte Bardot exhibition

Bardot rose to fame during the '50s around the same time as that other blond goddess, Marilyn Monroe. A majority of the never before published photos are drawn from the archives of Paris-Match magazine.

Photographing the American Wall

An ominous barrier meanders through a remote landscape appearing to float across the desert sands, reminiscent of a stark, modern-day Great Wall of China. The structure is not filled with ancient wonder but rather conjures up the controversy and hostility associated with the Berlin Wall. This barricade is the American wall that divides the U.S.-Mexico border.

Since 2006, fine art photographer Maurice Sherif has spent sweltering days documenting the wall that hopscotches 2,000 miles from the Pacific Ocean in California to the Gulf of Mexico in Texas. His collection of 96 photos, along with essays from scholars, can be viewed in his giant two-volume book, "The American Wall" (MS Zephyr Publishing).

Gusmano Cesaretti's 'East L.A. Diary'

As a boy growing up in Italy, Gusmano Cesaretti dreamed of America. He listened to jazz and rock 'n' roll on Radio Monte Carlo and was enticed by the fantasy worlds portrayed by James Dean and Marlon Brando in Hollywood movies. Yet when he arrived in the U.S. it wasn't the palatial estates and closed-off enclaves of the Westside that drew him in but rather the raw energy, graffiti, culture and people of East Los Angeles.

 "Driving around in my Volkswagen in Beverly Hills, I saw beautiful, surreal houses surrounded by walls but didn't see many people," recalled Cesaretti. "I kept driving to East L.A. and thought, 'This is great!'"

The undiscovered street photography of Vivian Maier

In 2007, Chicago Realtor John Maloof paid $400 at an auction for a storage locker filled with rolls of undeveloped film. He was searching for photos for a book project about his Chicago neighborhood of Portage Park. In a moment straight out of an episode of "Auction Hunters," Maloof discovered a treasure-trove of thousands of negatives that turned out to be from a nanny who took up street photography in her spare time yet kept most of her work hidden. The photographer was Vivian Maier.

After scanning a few of the images Maloof quickly realized he stumbled onto something remarkable. He created a blog seeking expert opinion and feedback on her photos. Immediately hundreds of positive responses poured in with book and exhibition offers. Comparisons were made to Walker Evans and Henri Cartier-Bresson. Her black-and-white photos, taken primarily from the 1950s through the 1970s, depict ordinary people, street life and architecture of New York, Chicago and Los Angeles.

Betty Freeman's memorable portraits of classical music artists

Betty Freeman, a great patron of the city's arts, is best remembered as an influential benefactor to the Los Angeles Philharmonic. A lesser-known part of her legacy is her photographs of composers and musicians.

It was while producing a 1973 documentary on the cantankerous composer Harry Partch that she unintentionally took on the additional duty of still photographer. A camera was thrust into her hands when none of the crew was available, and thus began a decades-long labor of love.

Some 71 of Freeman's intimate portraits and documents are on view at "Music People: The Photography of Betty Freeman," at the Walt Disney Concert Hall's Ernest Fleischmann Gallery. "There is no esteemed composer that isn't in her collection; she knew them all," said L.A. Philharmonic President Deborah Borda. The images, on display for the first time since Freeman's death in 2009, are drawn from her personal collection, which she willed to the orchestra.

Each musician had a direct relationship with the Philharmonic and a personal connection to Freeman. Many attended the private musical salons she hosted at her home in Beverly Hills, along with her second husband, painter and sculptor, Franco Assetto. There, guests would gather to listen to new works from various composers.

Photographer Lindsay McCrum documents 'Chicks With Guns'

The title "Chicks with Guns" evokes visions of Annie Oakley, Calamity Jane or a really bad B-movie. Photographer Lindsay McCrum's book (Vendome, $45), an examination of the relationship between women and their firearms, dispels some stereotypes and reveals a surprising slice of present-day Americana.

Her  portraits of female hunters, cops, Olympic biathletes and collectors are gorgeous, unsettling, entertaining and strangely elegant. Perusing the images without reading the personal essays is akin to watching a Merchant-Ivory film without the sound.

Weegee’s 'Naked Hollywood' at MOCA

Weegee, a.k.a. photojournalist Arthur Fellig, derived his moniker from the phonic adaptation of the Ouija board, because of his customary arrivals at crime scenes minutes before the authorities. That was in his heyday in New York City during the 1930s and '40s, when he made a name for himself with his intrepid film noir-esque black-and-white photos of five-alarm fires, horrific accidents and the blood-spattered corpses of murdered mobsters.

 In 1947, Weegee relocated to Los Angeles to take on the equally formidable Hollywood scene.

 In conjunction with the Getty-sponsored Pacific Standard Time exploration of postwar L.A. art, the Museum of Contemporary Art is presenting "Naked Hollywood: Weegee in Los Angeles," billed as the first exhibit here devoted to work he produced in Southern California, including photos from his 1953 book "Naked Hollywood."

Conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti back in the public eye

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The late Italian conceptual artist Alighiero Boetti was ahead of his time. He believed in a global community and the notion of fair trade, years before it was a popular practice. He placed a high value on non-Western cultural traditions.

Boetti is best known for his Mappa, a series of large embroidered maps of the world in which each country features the design of its national flag. He conceived of the concept but recruited and collaborated with embroiderers from Afghanistan to craft the tapestries. He often waited years for a completed piece.

Santa Monica-based photographer Randi Malkin Steinberger, who worked with Boetti in the '80s and '90s, traveled to Peshawar, Pakistan, in 1990 with his blessing to document the process of the artisan embroiderers working in a refugee camp. Nearly 55 of the images she captured that day have been compiled in the book "Boetti by Afghan People: Peshawar, Pakistan, 1990" (Ram Publications).

John Wayne caught 'Between Scenes' with photographer Phil Stern

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A recent auction of memorabilia from John Wayne's estate brought in an estimated $5.4 million, testimony to his enduring status. Die-hard fans unable to snag a piece of the legendary movie cowboy can discover his gentler side at "John Wayne: Between Scenes," an exhibition of personal and private photographs by Phil Stern at the Phil Stern Gallery in downtown L.A.

The 38 images on display from Stern's collection of thousands reveal tender off-screen moments. Pictures include a sweet shot of Wayne stealing a kiss from daughter Marisa or relaxing with Gary Cooper in espadrilles and mod shorts on holiday in Acapulco. With the exception of the Acapulco images, published in Photoplay, the majority of photos has never been seen before by the public.

Stern met Wayne in the 1950s, and they quickly developed a longtime friendship. The two were diametrically opposed on matters of philosophy, politics and beliefs. Stern described their relationship as poster boys for "The Odd Couple." "He was ultra-right conservative, and I was ultra left," Stern said on a recent visit to his home office near Hollywood. "For reasons I don't understand he felt comfortable with me around, and we developed a certain amount of intimacy."