Is Photography Art? It's an old question. The answer is "YES". And the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC reiterates this fact with it's current special exhibition: "The Streets of New York: American Photographs from the Collection, 1938–1958"....and a photo or two from 1960 was also included!
Photography as an art form holds so many possibilities and responsibilities. It frames history. It captures moments without prejudices. It creates icons from innocence in a way that no other medium can. And this look at images from New York City affirms each of these principles.
I am personally thrilled by the heightened presence of photography as an art form in museums like the NGA. It's happening all over the place: The Met, The Phillips Collection, the Chicago Institute of Art...places that have traditionally been lukewarm to the concept.
As a medium of expression, photography is in its infancy. But unlike any visual art form in the history of our species, it's also more universally accessible and nascent than even its progenitors could have imagined. What will it's standards look like? How will its works come to be assessed? "The Streets of New York....." at the NGA provide us with clues to how the questions might be answered.
The Works in this Collage are (from left to right starting in the upper left corner: Weegee, "Frank Pape, Arrested for Homicide, November 10, 1944": Lisette Model, "Bud Powell, 1956-1958"; Sid Grossman
"Coney Island, 1947-1948"; Louis Faurer "'Champion,' New York, N.Y., 1949-1950"
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