A Democracy of Images

June 28, 2013

Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum

“A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum” celebrates the numerous ways in which photography, from early daguerreotypes to contemporary digital works, has captured the American experience. The exhibition’s title is inspired by American poet Walt Whitman’s belief that photography provided America with a new, democratic art form that matched the spirit of the young country.

Marking the thirtieth anniversary of the establishment of the museum’s pioneering photography collection, the exhibition examines photography’s evolution in the United States from a documentary medium to a full-fledged artistic genre and showcases the numerous ways in which it has distilled our evolving idea of “America.”

The exhibition features 113 photographs selected from the museum’s permanent collection, including works by Edward S. Curtis, Timothy H. O’Sullivan, Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Roy DeCarava, Walker Evans, Irving Penn, Trevor Paglen, among others, as well as vernacular works by unknown artists. A number of recent acquisitions are featured, including works by Ellen Carey, Mitch Epstein, Muriel Hasbun, Alfredo Jaar, Annie Leibovitz, Deborah Luster, and Sally Mann. Landscapes, portraits, documentary-style works from the New York Photo League and images from surveying expeditions sent westward after the Civil War are among the images on display, and explore how photographs have been used to record and catalogue, to impart knowledge, to project social commentary, and as instruments of self-expression.

Photography’s arrival in the United States in 1840 allowed ordinary people to make and own images in a way that had not been previously possible. Photographers immediately became engaged with the life of the emerging nation, the activity of new urban centers, and the possibilities of unprecedented access to the vast western frontier. From the nineteenth to the twentieth century, photography not only captured the country’s changing cultural and physical landscape, but also developed its own language and layers of meaning.

A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum is organized around four major themes that defined American photography. “American Characters” examines the ways in which photographs of individuals, places, and objects become a catalogue of our collective memory and have contributed to the ever-evolving idea of the American character. “Spiritual Frontier” investigates early ideas of a vast, inexhaustible wilderness that symbolized American greatness. “America Inhabited” traces the nation’s rapid industrialization and urbanization through images of speed, change, progress, immigration, and contemporary rural, urban, and suburban landscapes. “Imagination at Work” demonstrates how photography’s role of spontaneous witness gradually gave way to contrived arrangement and artistic invention.

The exhibition is organized by Merry Foresta, guest curator and independent consultant for the arts. She was the museum’s curator of photography from 1983 to 1999.

Connecting Online
A complementary website designed for viewing on tablets will include photographs on view in the exhibition, an expanded selection of works from the museum’s collection, and a timeline of American photography. It will be available through tablet stations in the exhibition galleries.

Public Programs
A series of free public programs will be presented to complement the exhibition. Additional programs scheduled for the fall will be posted online.

Friday, June 28, 7 p.m., Curator Talk with Merry Foresta, exhibition guest curator
Saturday, July 13, 11:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Photo Family Day
Tuesday, August 13, 6 p.m., Gallery Talk with Lisa Hostetler, McEvoy Family Curator of Photography

Educational Initiatives
A three-day professional development workshop for teachers will be offered Monday, July 22–Wednesday, July 24 from 9:30 a.m. to 4 p.m. Teaching With Documents and Works of Art: An Integrated Approach Focus on Photography as Art and Document is organized with the National Archives and the National Council for the Social Studies; registration is required.

Credit
A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum is made possible with generous support from Saundra B. Lane, Lisa and John Pritzker, The Crown Equipment Exhibitions Endowment, The Margery and Edgar Masinter Exhibitions Fund, and The Bernie Stadiem Endowment Fund.

View PDF which lists all works:Doi Checklist

Original article can be found her:https://web.archive.org/web/20130706091816/http://americanart.si.edu/exhibitions/archive/2013/photographs/