Visions from America
dal 26/6/2002 al 27/7/2002
Segnalato da
26/6/2002
Visions from America
Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
The first full-scale exhibition of photographs drawn entirely from the Museum's own permanent collection. With more than 150 American photographs made from 1950 to the present, Visions from America spotlights works that express a quintessentially American sensibility.
of American Art, 1940-2000
A Half-Century of American Photography to Be Presented in Visions from
America: Photographs from the Whitney Museum of American Art, 1940-2000.
First full-scale exhibition of photographs from Whitney's collection explores
American character
Image:
Vera Lutter, Pepsi Cola, Long Island City, IV: May 19, 1998.
Unique camera obscura gelatin silver print, 55 1/4 x 123 in.
(140.3 x 312.4 cm). Whitney Museum of American Art, New
York; Purchase, with funds form the Photography Committee
2000.219.
Beginning June 27, 2002, the Whitney Museum of American Art will present its
first full-scale exhibition of photographs drawn entirely from the Museum's own
permanent collection. With more than 150 American photographs made from
1950 to the present, Visions from America spotlights works that express a
quintessentially American sensibility. The works are by established as well as
emerging artists, and have been collected by the Whitney over the past 11 years,
since the Museum began collecting photography. The exhibition will run through
the summer on the Museum's second floor.
Curator Sylvia Wolf's selection focuses on artists who live and work in this
country. Portraits, landscapes, street photographs, and genre subjects will be
featured, including works by Vito Acconci, Diane Arbus, Matthew Barney, Dawoud
Bey, Nancy Burson, Kristin Capp, Sarah Charlesworth, Chuck Close, Roy
DeCarava, William Eggleston, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Nan Goldin, Peter
Hujar, Louise Lawler, Vera Lutter, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mary Ellen Mark, Susan
Meiselas, Shirin Neshat, Catherine Opie, Dennis Oppenheim, Lucas Samaras,
Cindy Sherman, Chris Verene, and Carrie Mae Weems.
"In moving forward after September 11, we gain immensely by turning to artists to
understand our past and envision our future," said Maxwell L. Anderson, Director
of the Whitney. "As a museum devoted to American art and artists, the Whitney is
a vital repository for art embodying the American character. With this show of
superb photographs from our collection, we are able to call upon our inner
resources and see America through the eyes of some of our best photographers."
"Since the publication of Robert Frank's landmark book, The Americans, in 1959,
photography has been the medium of choice for artists portraying American
culture," said Sylvia Wolf, the Whitney's Sondra Gilman Curator of Photography.
"From the street photographs of the 1950s and 1960s, to the postmodern
imagery of the 1980s, from photography addressing identity politics in the early
1990s, to the new imaging technologies of today, photography has been at the
forefront of artistic innovation in America. The camera's ability to mark time and
document important events makes it vital to recording social change.
Photography is the ultimate reflection of who we are, how we live, and what we
believe."
Photography has been part of the Whitney Museum's exhibition history for more
than 25 years, with photographs most often seen in the Museum's Biennial
exhibitions of contemporary art. Photographers Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe,
and Cindy Sherman, for example, participated in Whitney Biennials during the
1970s and 1980s, and were later given one-person retrospectives at the
Museum.
A determined effort to collect photographic art began in 1991, when Sondra
Gilman Gonzalez-Falla, a Whitney Trustee and longtime photography collector,
founded an acquisitions committee devoted to the purchase of 20th-century
photography. The collection now numbers some 1,900 works. In 1998 the
Whitney furthered its commitment to photography with the formation of a curatorial
department of photography and the inauguration of the Sondra Gilman Gallery, a
space exclusively devoted to the exhibition of photography. In addition to the
ongoing presence of photography in the Sondra Gilman Gallery, the Whitney
continues to present special exhibitions of photographic works.
With the appointment in 1999 of Sylvia Wolf, the Sondra Gilman Curator of
Photography, the Whitney has concentrated its efforts to collect, preserve and
exhibit photographs by 20th- and 21st-century American photographers. The
museum's mission in photography is to build a collection that reflects the
complexity and diversity of American art, as well as to encourage acquisitions
that enhance the Whitney's holdings of works in other media.
The Whitney Museum of American Art is the leading advocate of 20th - and
21st-century American art. Founded in 1930, the Museum's holdings have grown
to include nearly 13,000 works of art representing more than 1,900 artists. The
Permanent Collection is the preeminent collection of 20th-century American art
and includes the entire artistic estate of Edward Hopper, as well as significant
works by Marsh, Calder, Gorky, Hartley, O'Keeffe, Rauschenberg, Reinhardt, and
Johns, among other artists.
Visitor Information
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p.m., Fridays from 1 p.m. to 9 p.m., Saturday and Sunday from
11 to 6 p.m., closed Monday. For information, please call 1-800
WHITNEY or visit the web site.
Contact:
Whitney Museum of American Art
Mary Haus, Stephen Soba
(212) 570-3633
Whitney Museum
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New York