J. Paul Getty Museum Presents “In Focus: The Worker”
03 Nov 2009
03 November 2009 - 21 March 2010
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center presents "In Focus: The Worker", a photographic history of working people across a variety of cultures.
Drawn exclusively from the Getty’s permanent collection, "In Focus: The Worker" includes photographs from the mid-nineteenth century through the late-twentieth century. The exhibition showcases more than forty works by seminal artists such as Thomas Eakins, Walker Evans, Hiroshi Hamaya, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Milton Rogovin, August Sander, and W. Eugene Smith. In addition to these prominent photographers, the exhibition also includes pictures by lesser known artists.
“The work we do plays such an important role in how we identify ourselves, so these insightful photographs are incredibly appealing,” said Paul Martineau, assistant curator, Department of Photographs, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and curator of the exhibition.
“We wanted to give visitors a look at the various ways photographers have pictured working people. The exhibition includes vocational portraits, photographs that show the action of work as well as images created for the purpose of social reform.”
Among the selection of works in the exhibition is Milton Rogovin’s captivating photograph "Cuba" (1989), which frames a group of workers standing at the entrance of a coal mine. Rogovin focuses on a young miner who gazes openly toward the camera, in contrast to his coworkers, who seem more tentative about being photographed.
Other selections include "Nurse and Child", taken in the mid-1800s, depicting a stunning portrait of an African-American slave that communicates a woman’s strength and beauty in the face of injustice, and American photographer Thomas Eakins’ "Cowboy and Dog at the B-T Ranch" (1887), morewhich depicts a Dakota Territory cowboy smoking a cigarette during his work break. This photograph captures the essence of a worker who made his living by ranching in the rural expanse of the American West. Larry Burrows’s striking "Vietnam" (1966) represents a group of medics rushing an injured soldier from an airlift to the hospital’s operating table. In classic photojournalistic style, Burrows has captured the urgency and action of a specific moment. W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh (1968) shows an arresting close-up of a welder with flames reflected in his goggles. Smith created a dramatic composition by placing his camera low and shooting upwards, effectively raising the common worker to an almost heroic status.
The exhibition is arranged chronologically and includes a broad range of photographic processes from daguerreotypes to gelatin silver prints. This variety of materials underscores the role of changing technology in the depiction of workers.
“In Focus: The Worker” will be the sixth installation of the ongoing “In Focus” series of exhibitions, which present photographs from the Getty’s permanent collection thematically.
Previous exhibitions have included "The Nude", "The Landscape", "The Portrait", and most recently, "Making a Scene".
Upcoming “In Focus” shows include In Focus: Tasteful Pictures, opening in March 2010. Photographers have been enticed by the subject of food since the earliest years of the medium. Drawn exclusively from the Museum's collection, the selection of works for this show will include bountiful still life compositions, innovative close-ups and photograms, and documentary studies.
"In Focus: The Worker" overlaps and complements the exhibition Irving Penn: Small Trades, which runs from Sept. 9, 2009, through Jan. 10, 2010, at the Getty Center. Working in Paris, London, and New York in the early 1950s, American photographer Irving Penn created masterful representations of skilled tradespeople dressed in work clothes and carrying the tools of their trade. A neutral backdrop and natural light provided a stage on which his subjects could present themselves with dignity and pride. Penn revisited his Small Trades series over many decades, each time producing more exacting prints. In 2008, the Getty acquired the most comprehensive group of these images, carefully selected by the photographer—155 gelatin silver prints and 97 platinum prints—which are being exhibited in their entirety for the first time.
The J. Paul Getty Museum at the Getty Center presents "In Focus: The Worker", a photographic history of working people across a variety of cultures.
Drawn exclusively from the Getty’s permanent collection, "In Focus: The Worker" includes photographs from the mid-nineteenth century through the late-twentieth century. The exhibition showcases more than forty works by seminal artists such as Thomas Eakins, Walker Evans, Hiroshi Hamaya, Lewis Hine, Dorothea Lange, Milton Rogovin, August Sander, and W. Eugene Smith. In addition to these prominent photographers, the exhibition also includes pictures by lesser known artists.
“The work we do plays such an important role in how we identify ourselves, so these insightful photographs are incredibly appealing,” said Paul Martineau, assistant curator, Department of Photographs, the J. Paul Getty Museum, and curator of the exhibition.
“We wanted to give visitors a look at the various ways photographers have pictured working people. The exhibition includes vocational portraits, photographs that show the action of work as well as images created for the purpose of social reform.”
Among the selection of works in the exhibition is Milton Rogovin’s captivating photograph "Cuba" (1989), which frames a group of workers standing at the entrance of a coal mine. Rogovin focuses on a young miner who gazes openly toward the camera, in contrast to his coworkers, who seem more tentative about being photographed.
Other selections include "Nurse and Child", taken in the mid-1800s, depicting a stunning portrait of an African-American slave that communicates a woman’s strength and beauty in the face of injustice, and American photographer Thomas Eakins’ "Cowboy and Dog at the B-T Ranch" (1887), morewhich depicts a Dakota Territory cowboy smoking a cigarette during his work break. This photograph captures the essence of a worker who made his living by ranching in the rural expanse of the American West. Larry Burrows’s striking "Vietnam" (1966) represents a group of medics rushing an injured soldier from an airlift to the hospital’s operating table. In classic photojournalistic style, Burrows has captured the urgency and action of a specific moment. W. Eugene Smith’s Pittsburgh (1968) shows an arresting close-up of a welder with flames reflected in his goggles. Smith created a dramatic composition by placing his camera low and shooting upwards, effectively raising the common worker to an almost heroic status.
The exhibition is arranged chronologically and includes a broad range of photographic processes from daguerreotypes to gelatin silver prints. This variety of materials underscores the role of changing technology in the depiction of workers.
“In Focus: The Worker” will be the sixth installation of the ongoing “In Focus” series of exhibitions, which present photographs from the Getty’s permanent collection thematically.
Previous exhibitions have included "The Nude", "The Landscape", "The Portrait", and most recently, "Making a Scene".
Upcoming “In Focus” shows include In Focus: Tasteful Pictures, opening in March 2010. Photographers have been enticed by the subject of food since the earliest years of the medium. Drawn exclusively from the Museum's collection, the selection of works for this show will include bountiful still life compositions, innovative close-ups and photograms, and documentary studies.
"In Focus: The Worker" overlaps and complements the exhibition Irving Penn: Small Trades, which runs from Sept. 9, 2009, through Jan. 10, 2010, at the Getty Center. Working in Paris, London, and New York in the early 1950s, American photographer Irving Penn created masterful representations of skilled tradespeople dressed in work clothes and carrying the tools of their trade. A neutral backdrop and natural light provided a stage on which his subjects could present themselves with dignity and pride. Penn revisited his Small Trades series over many decades, each time producing more exacting prints. In 2008, the Getty acquired the most comprehensive group of these images, carefully selected by the photographer—155 gelatin silver prints and 97 platinum prints—which are being exhibited in their entirety for the first time.
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Flo Peters Gallery Presents René Burri Retrospective
03 Nov 2009
Flo Peters Gallery will present René Burri, one of the last remaining great photography legends of the 20th century. The show gives a comprehensive insight into the work of the Swiss photographer and takes the observer onto a journey through the 20th century: From Swiss rural life to roman dolce Vita as well as Argentinean Gauchos and impressions of Maoist China René Burri did nothing less than photo imposing pure History onto paper. With portraits of for example Le Corbusier, Alberto Giacometti or Che Guevara, René Burri eternalized some of the most influential figures of the 20th century.
René Burri was born in April 1933 in Zurich and studied at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts from the age of 16. In 1950 he already had progressed to the master class of Photographer Hans Finsler, himself a representative of the so called Straight Photography, who greatly influenced René Burri´s creative eye. In the first two years after his exams he not only concentrated on photography but also on film. Amongst others he worked as a cameraman for the Walt Disney Film Production in Switzerland and also shared a studio with Walter Binder.
His first essay of Photographs was published in 1955 in the magazine Science & Vie. On initiative of the renowned Photography agency Magnum the same series was also published in Müncher Illustrierte and LIFE-Magazine. After a second manifold published photo essay about Le Corbusier´s spectacular Chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut in Ronchamp many ground- breaking photo-trips around the world should follow. These were to pave the way for first membership in 1956 and full membership in 1959 at Magnum.
The exhibition “René Burri – Retrospective. Five Decades of a Great Photographer” at Flo Peters Gallery shows photographs from over five decades of René Burri’s work. World famous documentary photographs from South Korea, Vietnam or Brazil as well as pictures of friends and colleagues such as Yves Klein, Ingrid Bergman, Henri Cartier-Bresson or Robert Frank will not be missed. Furthermore the exhibition will show works from one of his most exciting and famous essay Die Deutschen (The Germans) in which he brilliantly documented post-war everyday life in West- and Eastern Germany.
René Burri was born in April 1933 in Zurich and studied at the Zurich School of Arts and Crafts from the age of 16. In 1950 he already had progressed to the master class of Photographer Hans Finsler, himself a representative of the so called Straight Photography, who greatly influenced René Burri´s creative eye. In the first two years after his exams he not only concentrated on photography but also on film. Amongst others he worked as a cameraman for the Walt Disney Film Production in Switzerland and also shared a studio with Walter Binder.
His first essay of Photographs was published in 1955 in the magazine Science & Vie. On initiative of the renowned Photography agency Magnum the same series was also published in Müncher Illustrierte and LIFE-Magazine. After a second manifold published photo essay about Le Corbusier´s spectacular Chapel of Notre-Dame du Haut in Ronchamp many ground- breaking photo-trips around the world should follow. These were to pave the way for first membership in 1956 and full membership in 1959 at Magnum.
The exhibition “René Burri – Retrospective. Five Decades of a Great Photographer” at Flo Peters Gallery shows photographs from over five decades of René Burri’s work. World famous documentary photographs from South Korea, Vietnam or Brazil as well as pictures of friends and colleagues such as Yves Klein, Ingrid Bergman, Henri Cartier-Bresson or Robert Frank will not be missed. Furthermore the exhibition will show works from one of his most exciting and famous essay Die Deutschen (The Germans) in which he brilliantly documented post-war everyday life in West- and Eastern Germany.
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