Berenice Abbott
Henri Cartier-Bresson
Philip Lorca-diCorcia
Lee Friedlander
Helen Levitt
Irving Penn
Cindy Sherman
Edward Steichen
Alfred Stieglitz
James Van Der Zee
Weegee
Garry Winogrand
Photographic celebration of New York City. Exhibition Brings Together Works from the Museums Collection, Photographs by Ordinary New Yorkers and Visitors, and a Creative Response to the Events of September 11. The show is both a tribute to New York City and an exploration of photographys role in shaping a community.
Exhibition Brings Together Works from the Museums Collection, Photographs by
Ordinary New Yorkers and Visitors, and a Creative Response to the Events of September 11
Life of the City - an exhibition opening February 28, 2002 at The Museum of Modern Artis both a tribute to New York City and an
exploration of photographys role in shaping a community.
The first of three components presents more than 150 outstanding New York
photographs from the Museums collection. The second component is a revolving display of photographs contributed by New Yorkers and
othersamateurs and professionals aliketo express their relationships to the city.
Completing the exhibition is a digital display of the
thousands of photographs assembled by Here is New York, an extraordinary photographic initiative created in response to the events of
September 11. Life of the City is organized by the curatorial staff of the Museums Department of Photography with the generous cooperation
of the organizers of Here is New York.
Life of the City celebrates New York.
By bringing together landmarks of modern art and ordinary snapshots, the exhibition also probes a
common denominator of photography.
To make a photograph is to point out something that matters, says Peter Galassi, Chief Curator,
Department of Photography. That is just as true whether the photographer is an accomplished artist or an ordinary citizen. The exhibition is an
experiment. We hope it will tell us how people feel about the city.
Perhaps it will also teach us something about photography.
For more than a century, photographers have loved to make pictures of and in New York City. They have captured the vitality of the cityits
energy, ambition, turmoil, and gritand its beauty. Selected to stress the richness and diversity of this collective achievement, the first
component of Life of the City includes works by dozens of photographers, including Berenice Abbott, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Philip-Lorca
diCorcia, Lee Friedlander, Helen Levitt, Irving Penn, Cindy Sherman, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, James Van Der Zee, Weegee, and
Garry Winogrand.
On the opposite walls of the gallery, informally mounted with pushpins and regularly refreshed to make room for recent arrivals, is a display of
photographs contributed by New Yorkers and visitors to the city. Each person is invited to contribute one photograph that expresses his or her
relationship to New York City. Conditions of participation are detailed below.
Here is New York: A Democracy of Photographs was initiated by Alice Rose George, Gilles Peress, Michael Shulan, and Charles Traub. On
September 28, 2001, in a vacant store in Soho, they began collecting photographs of the events of September 11 and its aftermath. The
pictures
were scanned into a computer database, from which volunteers could make inkjet prints for display and sale at $25 each. The ever-mounting
proceeds contribute to the 9/11 Childrens Aid Fund. Here is New York rapidly became a place where New Yorkers could come together in a
time of distress. Its growing collection of thousands of photographs will be displayed digitally in Life of the City. The presentation of Here is
New York is made possible by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts.
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Image:
Philip-Lorca diCorcia. Igor. 1987. Chromogenic color print (Ektacolor), 15 11/16 x 22 7/8" (39.8 x 58.1 cm). The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Gift of Carol and Arthur Goldberg
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