American Photography

I visited the AGO (Art Gallery of Ontario) yesterday to see the exhibition: Outsiders: American Photography and Film 1950s-1980s.  It included photographs from Diane Arbus, Garry Winogrand, Gordon Parks, among others.  

Gordon Park’s work is stunning and the most impactful to me in its combination of message, sensitivity and execution.  There were works from other photographers that were possibly equally impactful, yet were more brutal and lacked finesse in their execution. The rendition of each shot contributed to the message of the image.   This is the second exhibition of Park’s works I’ve seen [1]; well worth the visit.

The images included from the Winogrand collection were mostly from the 1960’s with a few straddling into the early 1970’s.  For me their interest lie first in the memories they evoked: the 1964 New York World’s Fair (my first visit to New York); The Kent State protests; Politicians of the time (Goldwater, Muskie, McGovern, Nixon, Kennedy, LBJ).  The second point of interest was the reminiscence of the culture of the time: the dress; the styles; the mood and the contrast to today.   However, without the personal connection to those times, I wonder if a younger person might have seen these as nothing more than a bunch of snapshots.  

I found the subject matter of some of the images from Nan Goldin and Casa Susanna less comfortable, and sometimes disturbing.  I’m sure that was the intent.  Diane Arbus’ exploration of grotesque people brings attention — much like Parks’ images of the Fontenelle Family — but unlike Parks’ work I wasn’t sure to what end. While Parks highlights social injustice, I don’t know what Arbus is trying to highlight or whether she is just exploiting odd-looking people.  

While there were images that didn’t sit well with me, there were those that did. But I am left with more questions than I started with so may be that is the measure of success.