Photo Corners headlinesarchivemikepasini.com


A   S C R A P B O O K   O F   S O L U T I O N S   F O R   T H E   P H O T O G R A P H E R

Enhancing the enjoyment of taking pictures with news that matters, features that entertain and images that delight. Published frequently.

Dawoud Bey Retrospective to Tour Next Year Share This on LinkedIn   Tweet This   Forward This

3 October 2019

SFMOMA has announced the first full career retrospective of Dawoud Bay in 25 years will go on view in the museum's Pritzker Center for Photography from Feb. 15 to May 25, 2020. The exhib, co-organized with the Whitney Museum of American Art, will subsequently tour Atlanta's High Museum of Art and The Whitney in New York.

Dawoud Bey. Three Women at a Parade, Harlem, NY, 1978; courtesy of the artist.

Featuring approximately 80 works, the exhibition spans Bey's career from the 1970s to the present. Organized both thematically and chronologically, it ranges from his earliest street portraits in Harlem (1975-1978) to his most recent exploration of the Underground Railroad (2017).

"The power of Bey's work comes from the marriage of his extraordinary formal skill as a photographer with his deeply held belief in the political power of representation," said Corey Keller, curator of photography at SFMOMA.

"He sees making art as not just a personal expression but as an act of social responsibility, emphasizing the necessary work of artists and art institutions to break down obstacles to access, to convene communities and open dialogue. It has been truly inspiring to work with him on this project."

Keller and co-curator Elisabeth Sherman, assistant curator at the Whitney, explained that the exhibition's title, Dawoud Bey: An American Project, "intentionally inserts Bey's photographs into a long-running conversation about what it means to represent America with a camera. There is a rich tradition of 'American' projects, including Walker Evans's American Photographs (1938), Robert Frank's The Americans (1958), Lee Friedlander's The American Monument (1976) and Joel Sternfeld's American Prospects (1987)." They continue to ask, "But what truly constitutes an American photograph and who is considered an American photographer? The question of what it means to be an American photographer or simply an American, is a particularly poignant one now. Bey evokes the distinctly American experiences of the people and histories he shares through photography. Bey also evokes his own distinctly American experience. Through his thoughtful compositions and arresting pictures, he demands our attention and reminds us that the past is ever present."

For more information see the news release below.

SFMOMA Announces Major Career Retrospective of Influential Photographer Dawoud Bey

Nearly 80 Works Explore Wide Range of the Artist's 40+ Year Career

SAN FRANCISCO -- Photographer Dawoud Bey has dedicated more than four decades to portraying underrepresented communities and histories. From portraits in Harlem to nocturnal landscapes, classic street photography to large-scale studio portraits, his works combine an ethical imperative with an unparalleled mastery of his medium. The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art presents the artist's first full career retrospective in 25 years, on view in the museum's Pritzker Center for Photography from Feb. 15 to May 25, 2020.

Featuring approximately 80 works, the exhibition, co-organized with the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York, spans the breadth of Bey's career, from the 1970s to the present. Organized both thematically and chronologically, it ranges from his earliest street portraits in Harlem (1975-1978) to his most recent exploration of the Underground Railroad (2017).

"The power of Bey's work comes from the marriage of his extraordinary formal skill as a photographer with his deeply held belief in the political power of representation," said Corey Keller, curator of photography at SFMOMA. "He sees making art as not just a personal expression but as an act of social responsibility, emphasizing the necessary work of artists and art institutions to break down obstacles to access, to convene communities and open dialogue. It has been truly inspiring to work with him on this project."

Describing his process, Bey has said, "It begins with the subject, a deep interest in wanting to describe the Black subject in a way that's as complex as the experiences of anyone else. It's meant to kind of reshape the world one person at a time."

Bey received his first camera as a gift from his godmother in 1968. The following year, he saw the landmark -- and highly divisive -- exhibition Harlem on My Mind at The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. The exhibition, widely criticized for its failure to include significant numbers of artworks by African Americans, nonetheless made an impression on young Bey and inspired him to take up his own documentary project about Harlem in 1975. Since that time, Bey has worked primarily in portraiture, making tender, psychologically rich and direct portrayals of Black subjects and rendering African-American history in a form that is poetic, poignant and immediate.

Keller and co-curator Elisabeth Sherman, assistant curator at the Whitney, explain that the exhibition's title, Dawoud Bey: An American Project, "intentionally inserts Bey's photographs into a long-running conversation about what it means to represent America with a camera. There is a rich tradition of 'American' projects, including Walker Evans's American Photographs (1938), Robert Frank's The Americans (1958), Lee Friedlander's The American Monument (1976) and Joel Sternfeld's American Prospects (1987)." They continue to ask, "But what truly constitutes an American photograph and who is considered an American photographer? The question of what it means to be an American photographer or simply an American, is a particularly poignant one now. Bey evokes the distinctly American experiences of the people and histories he shares through photography. Bey also evokes his own distinctly American experience. Through his thoughtful compositions and arresting pictures, he demands our attention and reminds us that the past is ever present."

The exhibition includes work from eight major series and is organized to reflect the development of Bey's vision over the course of his career, as well as his engagement with certain themes over time.

Venues and Dates

  • SFMOMA: Feb. 15 to May 25, 2020
  • High Museum of Art, Atlanta: June to October 2020
  • The Whitney Museum of American Art, New York: Nov. 20, 2020 to Spring 2021


BackBack to Photo Corners