‘Tis the Season... For Exhibits

Although I do a fair amount of photography in the winter, it’s not my favorite time of the year to be holding a camera. However, if winter’s short days and cold temperatures force you indoors, you may as well take advantage of it. It seems that these things happen in bunches, and here are some upcoming and current photography exhibits that bear visiting. In the case of the Met... I DEMAND that you visit, um, I mean, make a pilgrimage (what better time of the year to use the word pilgrim!). So, let me start with that.

STIEGLITZ, STEICHEN AND STRAND at The Metropolitan Museum of Art, NYC. 11/10/10 - 04/10/11. Talk about three pillars of photography! Stieglitz, a photographer of note, but in reality, the man that brought modern art to America. Steichen, his protege’, who finally rejected pictorialism and became a master at portraiture and commercial photography (much to the dismay of Stieglitz), and as curator of the MOMA created the famous Family of Man exhibit; and Paul Strand, whose stark imagery redefined the post-pictorialism period. The two are connected to Stieglitz in oh so many ways. This monumental exhibit should probably be on the list of anyone that loves good photography.

THE MEXICAN SUITCASE at the International Center of Photography, NYC. 09/24/10 - 01/09/11. If you recall the intense excitement of the finding of the suitcase in Mexico with 4500 negatives from Robert Capa, David Seymour, and Gerda Taro that were long considered to be lost, you will want to see this exhibit. From the ICP press release: “These three photographers, who lived in Paris, worked in Spain, and published internationally, laid the foundation for modern war photography. Their work has long been considered some of the most innovative and passionate coverage of the Spanish Civil War (1936–1939). Many of the contact sheets made from the negatives will be on view as part of the exhibition, which will look closely at some of the major stories by Capa, Taro, and Chim as interpreted through the individual frames. These images will be seen alongside the magazines of the period in which they were published and with the photographers' own contact notebooks.”

TAKING AIM: UNFORGETTABLE ROCK ’N’ ROLL PHOTOGRAPHS SELECTED BY GRAHAM NASH. Eastman House, Rochester, NY. 10/30/10 - 1/30/11. “Chosen by legendary musician Graham Nash of Crosby, Stills & Nash, this dynamic exhibition showcases some of the most memorable photography in the history of popular music — nearly 100 images by the world’s greatest music photographers, including Anton Corbijn, Lynn Goldsmith, Annie Leibovitz, Jim Marshall, Neal Preston, Mick Rock, Francesco Scavullo, and Nash himself.”

Much, much closer to home (for me, at least):


AN INTUITIVE EYE: Andre Kertesz Photographs 1914-1969. Detroit Institute of Arts, 11/24/10-04/10/11. Nearly 100 photographs by Kertesz from his early days in Hungary and Paris, as well as later on in New York. Kertesz remains one of my favorite photographers -- his observant style of photography combines abstraction with elements of photojournalism. I’d say that this is a MUST SEE.

THE PHOTOGRAPHIC ART OF BILL RAUHAUSER. Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography. 11/13/10-12/18/10. Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography, 7 North Saginaw Street, Pontiac, MI 48342
Detroiter Bill Rauhauser is a wonderful photographer that has captured the soul of the area with his camera for 60 years. You won’t want to miss this retrospective. However, gallery hours are Saturdays from 1-5 pm, so there isn’t much time left. Detroit Center for Contemporary Photography, 7 North Saginaw Street, Pontiac, MI 48342

Class Pictures: Photographs by Dawoud Bey. Grand Rapids Art Museum, 01/21/11-03/20/11. “Dawoud Bey’s photography is community focused and collaborative in nature. Between 1992 and 2007, Bey traveled to six high schools in the Midwest and on both coasts. As artist-in-residence, he photographed students from across the economic, social, and ethnic spectrum. Class Pictures presents forty large-as-life photographs from this project.”

Hurry...
Light Works: Photographs from the Collection. Kalamazoo Institute of Arts. 09/18/10 - 12/12/10. “From Eadweard Muybridge's 19th-century photographic studies of animal locomotion to Richard Misrach's contemporary chromogenic prints, this exhibition spans the history of photography. Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Curtis, Ansel Adams, Dorothea Lange, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon and many other celebrated photographers will be included in this exhibition drawn from the KIA collection.”