Presence of Portraits Extended until April 27th

Due to increased demand, Presence of Portraits has been extended until April 27. The exhibition provides the public with a rare opportunity to see 80 original prints by some of the greatest photographers of the 19th and 20th centuries. Showcasing images of famous writers, musicians and artists, the exhibit examines portraiture as a representation of identity, with a particular focus on the emergence of modernism in 1920s and ‘30s Europe.

Early works in the show include an 1856 portrait by Julia Margaret Cameron of playwright Henry Taylor and an introspective image of Victor Hugo, 1852, made by his son Charles Hugo while exiled in Jersey. Playfully exploring unconventional representation, Dadaist and Surrealist works include Sophie Tauber Arp’s self-portrait behind her Dada head, Raoul Ubac’s mannequin portrait, a quietly poised Salvador Dali by Horst P. Horst and a grotesquely disproportioned portrait by Dora Maar, the muse of Pablo Picasso and inspiration for his Guernica.

Famous Ukrainian cellist Gregor Piatigorsky, in a work by Germaine Krull, is pictured at his last concert in Monte Carlo, before leaving Europe with Toscanini and Horowitz for the Metropolitan in New York City. Described by some as the greatest string player of his time, this portrait shows an intimate, pensive Piatigorsky on the eve of his departure. Edward Weston’s striking portrait of Imogen Cunningham, the experimental self-portraits of André Kertész and the street documentaries of Walker Evans and Paul Strand are all outstanding examples of modernist photography.

Mid-century American works consist of both the taste-defining fashion photography of Richard Avedon, Erwin Blumenfeld and Francesco Scavullo as well as the social documentary explorations of Nan Goldin, Diane Arbus and Lisette Model. Contemporary artists in the exhibit, including Barbara Astman and Lori Newdick, investigate issues of gender, identity and transformation that reflect upon the work of earlier women photographers, such as Claude Cahun's Portrait of Suzanne Malherbe.