MoMA New York

As part of my research for the Assignment 4 essay I came across reference to the exhibitions at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art) in New York [1]. Through the 20th century and into the 21st century it appears to have an influential place for identifying photographic talent. I also feel it captures what captures an accurate slice of the important trends of the photography world.

Here I am going to look at key exhibitions plus praise and criticisms through various curator tenures.

MoMA has been important in developing and collecting modernist art, and is often identified as one of the largest and most influential museums of modern art in the world [2].

‘MoMA developed a world-renowned art photography collection first under Edward Steichen and then under Steichen’s hand-picked successor John Szarkowski. The department was founded by Beaumont Newhall in 1940. Under Szarkowski, it focused on a more traditionally modernist approach to the medium, one that emphasized documentary images and orthodox darkroom techniques.’ [3]

Edward Steichen’s role as Director of Photography from 1947 to 1961 saw him curate the exhibit ‘The Family of Man’ which was seen by almost 10 million people. He was followed by his hand picked successor John Szarkowski who had the role from 1962 to 1991.  The Photographer’s Eye exhibition (1964) that accompanied his book was a sign of his autocratic style for the next 30 years. This was his opportunity to define the characteristics of a photograph and if it wasn’t as defined then it was deficient in some way.  He had a significant role to play in the acceptance of colour photography when he curated ‘The Photographs of William Eggleston’ in 1976.

His tenure was followed by Peter Galassi and then Quentin Bajac. It was Bajac’s book ‘Photography at MoMA: 1960 – Now’ [6] that was reviewed by two art authors, Mark Steinmetz [4] and Charlotte Cotton [5]. Steinmetz used it as an opportunity to highlight Bajac’s vagueness around his opinion of the direction of his predecessors. Charlotte Cotton’s review [6] is more positive but still references Szarkowski in terms of questioning where the current department stands in the history of photography at MoMA.

Interestingly the modernist and post-modernist standpoints come through from both of these reviewers. Steinmetz’s position is very much a modernist one where he summarises that the book puts ‘so much emphasis on photo-based art rather than on clear photographs that describe the photographer’s reactions to the world‘[4]. Cotton, who authored the book ‘The Photograph As Contemporary Art’, is in the post-modernist camp and appreciates the collection put together in the book and implies that she wishes the current photography department showed their colours in terms of the direction they wish to take.

Photographs by William Eggleston – 1976. This was the first solo exhibit of colour photography in MoMA’s history.  This was a significant exhibition curated by John Szarkowsky who wanted the focus to be on ‘home and place’ as opposed to ‘colour’, which was what Eggleston had said was the subject of his work.

More Than One Photography – 1992. Abellardo Morell’s Light Bulb was used as the cover image. The brochure contained 9 black and white images which suggests colour was still not accepted fully (or a constraint on the brochure printing process). Significantly this exhibition was one of the early Peter Galassi exhibitions and probably used as a vehicle to re-energise the photography department at the start of his tenure.

References:

1. MoMA Website
2. Kleiner, Fred S.; Christin J. Mamiya (2005). “The Development of Modernist Art: The Early 20th Century”. Gardner’s Art through the Ages: The Western Perspective
3. MoMA Wikipedia page
4. Mark Steinmetz review of Photography at MoMA: 1960 – Now , Time.com, 2015
5. Charlotte Cotton review of Photography at MoMA: 1960 – Now , Time.com, 2015
6. Bajac. Q, Photography at MoMA: 1960 – Now, MoMA, 2015

Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize 2017 – National Portrait Gallery

“The Taylor Wessing Photographic Portrait Prize is the leading international photographic portrait competition, celebrating and promoting the very best in contemporary portrait photography. 

The Prize has established a reputation for creativity and excellence, with works submitted by a range of photographers, from leading professionals to talented amateurs and the most exciting emerging artists.

The selected images, many of which will be on display for the first time, explore both traditional and contemporary approaches to the photographic portrait whilst capturing a range of characters, moods and locations. The exhibition of fifty-nine works features all of the prestigious prize winners including the winner of the £15,000 first prize” – [1]

This was a last minute unplanned visit to the national portrait gallery. I wasn’t even aware of what was on display in the ‘exhibition’ space which I had visited in 2016 for the William Eggleston Portraits show.

I haven’t managed to get a feel for portraits since beginning my studies…I’ve been interested in street photography and documentary. In the main this is due to themed, in portraiture, to find models and understanding lighting. Even though it is one of my many blind spots I went in with an open mind.

I was not previously aware of the Taylor Wessing Portrait Prize but I managed to get a quick look around in the time I had. I suppose my first thought was my surprise at seeing images containing more than one person. Obviously I am aware of family portraits but my notion of an art portrait was of a single sitter a la the Mona Lisa. Not so here, as included here were a pair of soldiers involved in a military re-enactment, some floating swimmers and a family picnic on the beach interrupted by a dog.

Amadou Sumaila by César Dezfuli

There was a mix of properly planned and staged images and candid captured moments. As there was such a range I found myself taking a second look around the two main gallery rooms. One of the standout images was Amadou Sumaila by César Dezfuli. This was a portrait of a migrant from Libya on a boat travelling across the Mediterranean Sea. The horizon and calm sea provides a strong backdrop to the face and the eyes of a determined but tired man looking for a new life. His white t-shirt is muddied suggesting days and weeks trudging to reach his destination. The image succeeds in creating a narrative in a single shot even though we see nothing of his surroundings, only the distant unseen destination. But anyone following the news would know the story but very few would have seen the human angst that can be read in Amadou Sumulia’s eyes.

One of Them Is a Human #1 by Maija Tammi

Another intriguing image was One of Them Is a Human #1 by Maija Tammi. Based on the title I did not know if this was an image of a human or not. It wasn’t until my second look and reading some additional information that I found that it was an image of a robot. That was a fascinating moment as it took art photography in to the future and questioned what photography is and is it a real portrait. The pose and lighting is similar to many fashion magazine images but there was something starnge about the eyes. I then questioned whether I had really seen the detail of such a persons eyes to know how accurate the robot was. It reminded me of the Gillian Wearing passport photo where she wore a mask of her younger self.

Dapo, Chicks by Camille Mack

Another image that caught my eye was Dapo, Chicks by Camille Mack. This is part of a documentary project studying the diversity of south London. Captured in this image is Dapo in a fried chicken shop. The scene is an ordinary scene of a lad sitting at a dining table in a shop with a tray and condiments standing naturally on the table. The vibrant red reminded me of the colour in William Eggleston’s The Red Ceiling. Here though we see a man looking in to the distance contemplating the next bite of his chip. Although the scene is ordinary the use of depth of field brings the viewers attention to the subjects eyes. What is he thinking? Is he troubled? What are his plans? Is this a regular meal or part of a night out? Alone or with friends?

These questions of wanting to the story of the character are the most interesting portraits. The least successful are the group scenes as these are more like snapshots recording what is happening at that moment in front of the lens. The three images identified above have a story behind the eyes that the viewer can bring to the experience of looking.

Having noticed on my way out that the judges had already awrded the prize I found that 1st prize went to Amadou Sumaila by César Dezfuli, 2nd was Fleeing Mosul by Abbie Trayler-Smith and 3rd One of Them Is a Human #1 by Maija Tammi.

Fleeing Mosul by Abbie Trayler-Smith

The 2nd place image I hadn’t even seen so went back to look for it. When I saw it I found it to be a troubling image of a girl taken through a bus window. Her face has the look of a classic portrait painting. But the subjects eyes, once again, hold on to the story. Fears from the past and fears fro the future. An extra detail of the rain running down the glass suggests tears of loss. The images other strength is the fortunate similarity in colour of the bus curtains and the girl’s headscarf.

I found this to be an excellent insight in to the portraiture genre and still feel a reluctance to try this type of work.

References:

1. Exhibition website: https://www.npg.org.uk/whatson/twppp-2017/exhibition/

Cathedral Of The Pines – Gregory Crewdson @ Photographers Gallery Oct. 2017

“I’m not religious in any way, but it was certainly a time of searching for something”
– Gregory Crewdson (2017)

This exhibition, across all three gallery spaces at the Photographer’s Gallery, is the latest work of American photographer Gregory Crewdson (b. 1962). The title comes from the name of a forest trail in Becket, Massachusetts where the artist now lives. It was also a place he had visited on family days out as a child. This makes the work very personal and I felt that Crewdson’s knowledge and feel for the locations was very strong.

Approximately 30 pictures were consistently placed in 5′ x 4′ black frames behind glass. A very clean and simple style giving centre of attention to staged film-like stories inside each frame. Domesticated indoor scenes, forested outdoor scenes, a mixture of seasons all containing people in various states of undress and packed with remote sadness.

The scenes are well staged and well lit, apart the title image ‘Cathedral of the Pines’ where the skier is strangely over-lit. Obviously an artistic choice but one which felt at odds with all the others on show.

The indoor scenes were large scale and you definitely got the sense of being an onlooker in the room itself. For the scenes set outside the dwellings the viewer was placed a dozen paces away. In the forest scenes the viewer was a good distance away allowing the vast landscape to dominate the figures.

It was a very challenging and at times an uncomfortable exhibition mostly due to the repeated use of nudity. I am aware the nude has a place in the history of art but this seemed to be overuse of ideas Crewdson had used in previous series.

I could imagine an OCA tutor suggesting that there are too many ideas in the set and to pair it down a bit. It could be divided in to three location style sets: inside looking out, outside looking in; and the woodland/roadside mysteries.

I understood the emotional ideas of isolation and detachment heightened by the sense of place. Common devices Crewdson used throughout were draped/dropped items of clothing and fabric, doors ajar, remote gazes, family games and as previously mentioned, nudity.

The volume of images on display and similar themes certainly made me feel like had had been through a challenging emotional journey. It was possible to piece together a TV mini-series of family trials and tribulations, accidents and emergency searches, mysteries to be solved in the woods.

I have included a selection of my favourite images that captured a taste of the possible mini-series. Only one has partial nudity as I did not have empathy for the nude characters as they detracted from the story I was building in my mind.

Gregory Crewdson ‘Cathedral of the Pines’ on display at The Photographer’s Gallery (2017)

References:

1. BJP Review [accessed 6/10/2017]
2. The Guardian Review [accessed 6/10/2017]
3. Photographers Gallery exhibition page [accessed 6/10/2017]

 

 

Deutsche Borse Prize 2017 – Photographer’s Gallery

This was my second viewing of the Deutsche Borse prize at the Photographer’s Gallery. My visit to the 2016 edition was eye opening for the simple fact that the winner was my least favourite of the finalists. Once again I am viewing the entries prior to the winner being announced, It felt like a challenge to see if I could identify what the judges were looking for in the 2017 winner.

The Deutsche Borse prize is the Photographer’s Gallery very own award which rewards a living photographer, of any nationality, for a body of work presented in an exhibition or publication, which significantly contributes to the medium of photography. The finalists are usually chosen for their contemporary photographic practice encouraging experimentation in the various approaches of landscape, portraiture and documentary.

This year’s finalists are:

Sophie Calle (b. 1953, France) for her publication My All (Actes Sud, 2016)

Dana Lixenberg (b. 1964, The Netherlands) for her community project Imperial Courts (Roma, 2015)

Awoiska van der Molen (b. 1972, The Netherlands) for her exhibition Blanco at Foam Fotografie Museum, Amsterdam 2016

Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs (both b. 1979, Switzerland) for EURASIA exhibited at Fotomuseum Winterthur, 2016.

These finalists were displayed as seems to be the norm, across the top two floors of the gallery building.

Autobiographies (Mouse), 2017 by Sophie Calle

It should be noted that I visited the gallery at a time when I was recovering from a period of low mood and was attempting a phased return to work. I mention this here as it impacted the way I viewed and received Sophie Calle’s work. The selection of work presented was from her project Les Autobiographies, titled My mother, my cat, my father, in that order. It is a very personal project dealing with the death of her parents and her cat. The Photographer’s Gallery booklet describes it as telling of “the fragility of memory and the transitory character of relationships”. For me it was too personal, it covered a subject that was troubling me at that particular time in my life but I understand why artists produce work of this nature. It provides an additional layer that the artist themselves may not even be aware of. The overall feeling was morbid, I just felt sadness and that was not a good feeling for me at that time.

EURASIA, 2016 by Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs

The Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs created a road trip narrative of their journey across Europe and Asia. The exhibition presented mixed media forms including movie projections. The work combined digital and analogue processes and utilised varying formats including large format plate cameras. This work never caught my attention and was describing parts of the world in a random way. The website describes it as “a narrative that is much fiction as documentation”. I can see that it was experimental in its use of mixed media but it contained too much variation which I have noticed in other collaborative works such as Hay on the Highway (1994).

#346-18 2013 © Awoiska van der Molen

Avoiska van der Molen studies landscape but creates them in abstract form and in black and white. She visits remote scenes from around the world and studies them in solitude and silence. Her approach allows the landscape to make an impression on her and the results are her way of communicating that to the viewers. The results are quite dramatic and very dark but the focus of attention is on the white edges and surfaces. These are large scale prints and certainly look like works of art.

Imperial Courts, 2016 by Dana Lixenberg

Dana Lixenberg presents a documentary project that she worked has worked on across twenty two years. Her subject is a housing project in Los Angeles, USA. She first visited the Imperial Courts community housing project in 1992 for a magazine following the riots that resulted in the Rodney King verdict. She has continued to visit since and has captured the lives of people as they grow up. Some have died, been killed, disappeared or in jail. The large scale images are black and white which may have been the choice in 1992 as it was a serious documentary piece. This format has remained and emphasises the time span as well as racial aspect of the area. This was the pick of the four artists. The images captured the essence of day to day life in a housing project. The lives are captured in detail across the faces of the portraits.

On this occasion I was in agreement with the judges…the winner of the Deutsche Borse Prize 2017 is Dana Lixenberg for Imperial Courts.