The Human Presence: Photographs from the Collection
Duane Michals (American, b. 1932), Portrait of Magritte, 1965. Gelatin silver print, edition 27 of 100. Gift of Arthur and Yolanda Steinman.
Willie Cole (American, b. 1955), Man, Spirit, Mask, 1999. Triptych: Photo-etching; silkscreen; photo-etching with woodcut. Museum Purchase, General Art Acquisition Fund 2020.16a-c Image courtesy of Alexander and Bonin, New York.
Raúl Corrales (Cuban, 1925-2006), The Fishing Net (La Atarraya), ca. 1948. Gelatin silver print. Museum Purchase with Funds provided by the Cheeryble Foundation.
Since photography’s invention in Europe in 1839, photographers have attempted to reveal nothing less than the infinite span of human experience. This exhibition presents modern and contemporary photographs featuring people as their subject, each with their own presence, bearing, and character. Reaching beyond traditional portraiture, these sensitively-made images suggest states of psychology and mood while evoking private and, at times, intimate facets of gender, race, sexuality, and identity. Spontaneously taken or deliberately composed, all these photographs demonstrate the camera’s uncanny, and all but unique, ability to variously reflect, question, affirm, and sometimes revel in what it means to be present within a human form.
