Manchester, NH – A New Vision: Modernist Photography showcases the work of more than 70 photographers and takes museum visitors on a journey from the beginning of the modernist movement in the 1920s to modernism’s influence on contemporary photography.
The exhibition features more than 150 works displayed in three expansive galleries. Visitors will recognize some iconic New York City imagery, like Rudy Burckhardt’s Flat Iron Building, 1948 and photos of the George Washington Bridge and Times Square. Visitors will also see the work of New England photographers Carl Hyatt of Portsmouth, NH and Paul Caponigro of Cushing, ME – both contemporary photographers very much influenced by modernism
Hyatt’s Portsmouth Harbor Salt Pile Series, S-28 and Caponigro’s San Sebastian, New Mexico are classic modernist images that emphasize dramatic contrasts of light and shade, creating abstract compositions. Like historic modernist photos, form and composition are as important as subject matter in these images.
Historic modernist American photographers such as Edward and Brett Weston, Margaret Bourke-White, Man Ray and Charles Sheeler, as well as European artists including Lotte Jacobi, Helmar Lerski and Imre Kinszki are represented throughout A New Vision.
From urban cityscapes and rural landscapes to individual portraits and still-life compositions, A New Vision explores the reciprocal influences among all media that shaped the modern art movement. Artists in the varied media shared a common vision; to illustrate this interconnectedness, paintings by Marsden Hartley, Georgia O’Keeffe, Charles Sheeler and Childe Hassam are paired with photographs in this exhibition.
“This exhibition illustrates the diversity of the modernist movement and its important contribution to the art of the 20th and 21st centuries,” said Kurt Sundstrom, curator of the exhibition. Adding, “Modernist photographers expanded the visual vocabulary of art – making everyday objects – from grass, drying laundry, machinery and lumber to details of the human body – subjects worthy of artistic interest.”
This special exhibition is supported by Hitchiner Manufacturing Co., Inc. and by Barbara and Thomas Putnam, with additional support from the Mac Doty Education Fund.
The Currier Museum of Art is located at 150 Ash Street, Manchester, NH. Open every day except Tuesday. Museum admission: adults $10; seniors $9; students $8; children age 17 and under are always admitted free. More information: www.currier.org or call 603.669.6144 x108.
