Modern Photography Exhibitions

Museum Shows on the Photo Medium in the 20th Century in 2007-2009

© Stan Parchin

Dec 2, 2007

Arthur Penn, Salvador Dalí (1947), Morgan Library & Museum

An astounding 15 special exhibitions on modern and contemporary photography are scheduled for museums in 2007 through 2009.

Fifteen exhibitions describe the achievements of modern and contemporary photographers, their accomplishments displayed in the United States and France.

Harry Callahan: Eleanor

Some 125 evocative works on paper by innovative American photographer Harry Callahan (1912-1990) portray Eleanor, his wife and artistic inspiration, during the 1940s, '50s and '60s.

The Art of Lee Miller

This first retrospective of the life and work of Lee Miller (1907-1977) explores her transformation from muse to noteworthy photographer.

Depth of Field: Modern Photography at the Metropolitan

Images by Sigmar Polke (b. 1941), Thomas Ruff (b. 1958), Cindy Sherman (b. 1954) and Thomas Struth (b. 1954), among others, describe the role of contemporary photography in conceptual, earth and performance art from the 1960s to the present.

This Is War! Robert Capa at Work

Vintage prints, caption and contact sheets, handwritten notes, personal letters and original magazine layouts trace the career of photojournalist Robert Capa (1913-1954) during the 1930s and 1940s as well as his coverage of the Spanish Civil War, the Sino-Japanese War and World War II.

Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer's Life, 1990-2005

Two-hundred images by award-winning American photographer Annie Leibovitz (b. 1949) describe 15 years in her life, including images of celebrities, world leaders, the siege of Sarajevo in the early 1990s, landscapes and private life.

Looking In: Robert Frank's "The Americans"

The exhibition examines the construction and influence of The Americans (1958) by Robert Frank (b. 1924), a collection of 83 photographs that describes alienation and loneliness in mid-20th-century American society through casual images of subjects such as automobiles, gas stations, diners and the road.

The Other Side of Light: Shadows from the Photography Collection

More than 60 works on paper by Lee Friedlander (b. 1934), André Kertész (1894-1985) and Paul Strand (1890-1976), among others, illustrate the elusive role of shadow in photography.

Street Life: American Photographs from the 1960s and 1970s

Sixty images by Garry Winogrand (1928-1984), Danny Lyon (b. 1942), Dennis Carlyle Darling (b. 1946) and Susan Meisalas (b. 1948) document American life during the era of counter-culture, the Vietnam War and women's liberation.

André Kertész: Seven Decades

Some 55 prints by photographer André Kertész (1894-1985) are arranged chronologically and geographically to describe the diversity of his work while in Hungary, France and the United States, particularly New York.

The Goat's Dance: Photographs by Graciela Iturbide

About 140 prints by Mexican photographer Graciela Iturbide (b. 1942) focus on the indigenous peoples of southern Mexico, East Los Angeles' outsider immigrant groups and those at the border between the United States and Mexico. Landscape studies of the American South and her homeland are included.

Close Encounters: Irving Penn's Portraits of Artists and Writers

Sixty-seven portraits of notable personalities by American photographer Irving Penn (b. 1917), acquired by the Morgan Library & Museum in 2007, are on display. Among the Important figures from the visual arts, literature, dance, music, theatre and film (1944-2006) included are Giorgio de Chirico, Salvador Dalí, Jasper Johns, Langston Hughes, Igor Stravinsky, Truman Capote, Woody Allen, Louise Bourgeois, Rudolf Nureyev and Simone de Beauvoir.

Lee Friedlander: A Ramble in Olmstead Parks

Some 40 photographs by Lee Friedlander (b.1934) explore the public parks and private estates designed by American landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead (1822-1903), best known for New York's Central Park in Manhattan.

Ed Ruscha and Photography

Some 115 original photographc prints by Pop and conceptual artist Ed Ruscha (b. 1937) describe his interest in typography and signage during the 1960s and 1970s.

The Louvre During the War: From a Photographic Perspective, 1939-1947

This display of some 40 photographs by professionals and amateurs show the palace's rooms used by the Nazis during World War II and the museum's reopening in 1946.

Road to Freedom: Photographs of the Civil Rights Movement, 1956-1968

Approximately 130 compelling photographs, primarily from the High Museum of Art, document the Civil Rights Movement in the United States and its non-violent struggle for racial equality from the Rosa Parks case (1955-1956) to the assassination of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. (1968).


The copyright of the article Modern Photography Exhibitions in Art Galleries/Museums is owned by Stan Parchin. Permission to republish Modern Photography Exhibitions must be granted by the author in writing.


Harry Callahan, Eleanor (1948), Harry Callahan Estate
Thomas Struth, San Zaccaria, Venice (1995), The Metropolitan Museum of Art
Paul Strand, Porch Shadows (1916), Art Institute of Chicago
Angel Woman, Sonora Desert (1979), Graciela Iturbide/J. Paul Getty Museum
Arthur Penn, Salvador Dalí (1947), Morgan Library & Museum


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