After photography’s inception in the early 1800s, the camera quickly became a desirable mechanism for portrait making, and humans an endlessly fascinating subject on which to focus the lens.
Much more than documentation of a moment in time, portraiture’s aim is often to capture something significant about the sitter. From carefully composed scenes to spontaneous snapshots, the portrait photograph tells a story, contrived or truthful.
On view in the second-floor Preview Gallery, “Striking Poses” features a selection of rarely or never-before-seen portrait photographs from the permanent collection. The exhibition highlights both the individuality of the subjects and the unique artistic perspectives of renowned photographers, including Anne Noggle, Edward Weston, Brett Weston, Berni Schoenfield, Bert Stern, and more.
“Striking Poses” is on view through January 26 in the second-floor Preview Gallery.
(pictured, top: “Buster Keaton on the Set of Limelight,” 1952, Berni Schoenfield (American, 1922-1999), Gelatin silver print, Gift of Marjorie M. Cheatley and Marcia Koblos Shattuck.)
(pictured: “Yolanda,” 1978, Anne Noggle (American, 1922-2005), Gift of the Anne Noggle Foundation.)