FSA Photography & Contemporary Social Realism @Robert Miller

JTF (just the facts): A group show containing a total of 41 photographs by 10 different photographers, hung in the front room, the common area, and the two middle gallery spaces. (Installation shots at right.)

The following photographers are included in the main show, with the number of prints on view and image details as background:

• Horace Bristol: 5 gelatin silver prints, framed in white/black and matted, sized between 9x7 and 14x11, from 1938
• Jack Delano: 2 dye transfer prints and 2 gelatin silver prints, framed in white/black and matted, each 10x15 or 11x14, from 1940-1941
• Walker Evans: 5 gelatin silver prints, framed in white/black and matted, sized from 5x8 to 7x11, from 1935-1945
• Debbie Grossman: 5 inkjet prints, framed in black and matted, each 11x14, from 2010
• Dorothea Lange: 3 gelatin silver prints, framed in white and matted, each roughly 8x9, from 1935-1936
• Russell Lee: 3 dye transfer prints, framed in white and matted, each 10x13, from 1940
• Arthur Rothstein: 2 gelatin silver prints, framed in black and matted, each 14x11, from 1936-1939
• Zoe Strauss: 5 archival pigment prints, framed in white and unmatted, sized 13x27, 18x27, or 20x30, from 2001-2006
• Emma Wilcox: 7 gelatin silver prints, framed in black and unmatted, each 20x24, in editions of 7, from 2002-2012
• Marion Post Wolcott: 2 gelatin silver prints, framed in black and matted, sized between 10x6 and 7x10, from 1936

Large black and white photographic portraits by Josh Lehrer hang in the back gallery, but are designated separately on the checklist (Project Room) and have not been included in the discussion here.

Comments/Context: While an exhibit pairing photographs from the 1930s Farm Security Administration with contemporary social realism certainly sounds promising in general, this particular show doesn't quite fire on all cylinders. This isn't so much a reflection on the quality of the work (which is excellent from the FSA bunch and plenty strong from the more current artists) as it is a lack of interesting parallels and unexpected connections. The chasm between the two time periods is wide enough that even though there are some common issues (poverty first among them), there isn't a clear continuum of visual ideas connecting the past and the present in the selected pictures. As a result, the show feels a bit disjointed and awkward, instead of resonating with juxtaposed insight.

The only true pairing in this show is the side by side hanging of Russell Lee's 1940s small town farmers and Debbie Grossman's digital manipulations of those same images sixty years later, where she has carefully replaced all the men with women, creating a fictional all female world. It's a clever old/new mix, where the physical labor of homesteaders is done by women and stoic square dancing families have two female parents; traditional gender roles are smartly upended and reconsidered. Many of the other FSA works on view are penetrating vintage portraits: Rothstein's Montana rancher, Wolcott's coal miner, Bristol's bearded migrant, and Lange's disembodied weathered hands, wearing torn work clothes and holding a wooden hoe. On the contemporary side, Zoe Strauss offers shot appliances and and the texture of a yellow curtain, while Emma Wilcox plumbs the depths of darkness, via shadowy checkout aisles, stenciled skulls, and an aerial town shot with the residence of a thief indicated by large white letters and an arrow.

I think this show would have benefited from the inclusion of a few more contemporary photographers and a more conscious and repeated mixing of the two time periods; instead of bigger single artist groups, small side by side comparisons might have helped to tease out the similarities and differences. That said, there's plenty of solid work worth seeing here, even if the thematic construct isn't hugely effective.

 

Collector's POV: The works in this show are priced as follows:

• Horace Bristol: $10000, $12500, $15000 or NFS
• Jack Delano: $3500, $4000 or $6000
• Walker Evans: between $9500 and $26000
• Debbie Grossman: $2500 or $3500
• Dorothea Lange: between $8000 and $12500
• Russell Lee: $6000 or $7000
• Arthur Rothstein: $2500 or $3500
• Zoe Strauss: $2600, $3250, or $3600
• Emma Wilcox: $1850 each
• Marion Post Wolcott: $3000 or $5000

The work of the FSA photographers is generally available in the secondary markets, ranging from the iconic and expensive to the lesser known and very reasonably priced. The work of the contemporary photographers in this show (Grossman, Strauss, and Wilcox) is much less available at auction, so gallery retail will likely be the best option for following up on these three.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Features/Reviews: New Yorker (here)
• Debbie Grossman artist site (here)
• Zoe Strauss artist site (here)
• Emma Wilcox artist site (here)

FSA Photography & Contemporary Social Realism

Through November 17th

Robert Miller Gallery

524 West 26th Street

New York, NY 10001

In Praise of Shadows: Dirk Braeckman and Bill Henson @Robert Miller

JTF (just the facts): A total of 23 large scale works, 12 by Braeckman and 11 by Henson, hung in the front room, hallways, two side galleries, and the main gallery space in the back. The works by Braeckman are gelatin silver prints mounted to aluminum, with no frames. All of the prints are 71x47 or reverse, except one smaller print, which is 47x31. The images are variously printed in editions of 3 or 5, and were made between 1994 and 2007. The works by Henson are Type C color prints, framed in dark wood but not matted. Most of the prints are 50x70 or reverse, with a couple of prints sized at 50x50 square. All of these works were made between 1990 and 2006 and come in editions of 5. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: While there is no brand new work in this pairing of Belgian photographer Dirk Braeckman and Australian photographer Bill Henson, it does offer some worthwhile contrasts in the subtle use of darkness and ambiguity. And although both artists are heavy users of shadow (hence the title of the show), they each use its properties in unique aesthetic ways, creating easily recognizable and unmistakable photographic styles.

Musical theorists use the word timbre to distinguish the difference in sound between say a piano and a trumpet, even when they are playing the same exact notes; instruments and voices have a specific, recognizable sound that can be easily and obviously distinguished by listeners (and used for effect by composers). Even though both Braeckman and Henson are using shadows in their work, the aesthetic timbre of those shadows is remarkably dissimilar; their tonality and feeling is entirely opposite.

Braeckman's pictures of anonymous rooms, abstract spaces, and faceless nudes have a tactile quality, the matte surface of the images soaking up the light, creating a silvery world of ephemeral moments. There is very little sharp contrast in use, no harsh blacks or stark whites; only a modulated spectrum of middle greys, optimized for blurred, elusive nuance. Nondescript beds, curtains, wallpaper, and bodies reflect splashes of soft reflected light - carefully composed interior details become mysterious, a rumpled bedspread is transformed into an elegant, impressionistic pattern.

Henson's images of teenagers and in-between spaces are altogether more moody and emotional. His rich shadows are thick and enveloping, his figures emerging from the opaque darkness and then receding back into the background, surrounded by the city lights in the distance. Some have likened his use of light to the chiraoscuro of Caravaggio, and this comparison seems apt; the vulnerability of his listless semi-clad subjects is enhanced by the shadows that alternately isolate and drown them. His painterly faces move back and forth between awkward and confrontational.

When hung together, the contrasting shadow styles become even more apparent: Braeckman's images seem diaphanous and delicate, while Henson's seem earthy and intrusive. While there are hits and misses on both sides of this pairing, in the end, I found a few of Henson's portraits to resonate with a challenging aura that seemed to overpower the intricacies of Braeckman's largely empty interiors. Both are seductive in their own ways, but Henson's works stuck with me longer.

Collector's POV: The works by Braeckman in this show are priced at either $10500 or $17000, with 2 images POR. The works by Henson are priced at either $30000, $34500, or $37500. While Braeckman has little or no secondary market pricing history, Henson's images have intermittently come up for sale in the past few years, pricing between $7000 and $26000. Dirk Braeckman is also represented by Zeno X Gallery in Antwerp (here); Bill Henson is also represented by Roslyn Oxley9 Gallery in Sydney (here).

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

Transit Hub:

• Review: Artforum (here)
• Dirk Braeckman artist site (here)
• Bill Henson, Lux et Nox, 2002 (here)

In Praise of Shadows: Dirk Braeckman and Bill Henson
Through May 8th
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Robert Miller Gallery
524 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

Baron Adolph de Meyer @Robert Miller

JTF (just the facts): A total of 91 works, variously framed and matted (some in elaborate period frames with linen mats), and hung throughout the entire gallery (a series of 5 rooms and hallways). Virtually all of the images are portraits. The prints are mostly vintage, taken throughout De Meyer's career, beginning in 1897 and ending in 1940. The print sizes are all intimate, ranging between 4x3 and 14x11. While most of the prints are gelatin silver prints, there are other processes represented in the exhibit as well: albumen, pigment, platinum, and platinum palladium. There is also one glass case containing portraits of the artist. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Given the ubiquitous nature of fashion and celebrity culture today, the main reason to see this show is to step back in time and understand where it all got started. Baron Adolph De Meyer was the first staff photographer for both Vogue and Vanity Fair and his luxurious images of society ladies and film stars of the early 1900s paved the way for the explosion that has come since.

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De Meyer's images were made in the soft-focus Pictorialist style of the times, with a heavy dose of Edwardian aristocratic glamour. His subjects outfitted themselves in a wide spectrum of old world finery, oriental exotica, and risque new Art Deco frocks; there are mountains of feathers, flowers, and lace, billowing formal ball gowns, furs, jewels, and over-the-top fabulous hats. Virtually all of the women are lit from behind (with the light in their hair), artfully posing in windows and doorways or in seen in profile in staged interior scenes, hands extended or folded just so. Vanderbilts, Havemeyers, and Isabella Stewart Gardner are mixed in with Josephine Baker, Nijinsky and a parade of now-forgotten actresses, the wealthy and the famous placed on equal footing, for the adoration of the masses.
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An exhibit like this cannot avoid having a bit of a dated, period piece feel to it, but there are plenty of echoes and connections to the pages of our current fashion magazines that make this show more than just an interesting time capsule. When De Meyer gets it just right, his portraits have a timeless grace and elegance (with a touch of surprising modernism) that rivals the best of what has been produced since.

Collector's POV: The prints in this show are priced quite differently based on the process in use. The gelatin silver prints range between $5000 and $63500. The platinum and platinum palladium prints start at $16000 and continue up to $160000. The albumen prints are either $19000 or $19500, and the one pigment print is $260000. There are 11 prints that are marked "not for sale".

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De Meyer's work has been only intermittently available at auction in the past few years, with a wide range in prices based on the rarity of the lots on offer. Lesser known works have recently gone for as little as $2000, while just last Fall, a platinum print of Water Lilies went for $170000 at Christie's.

Rating: * (one star) GOOD (rating system described here)

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Transit Hub:

• NY Times T magazine (here), Style.com (here)
• Book: A Singular Elegance, 1994 (here)

Baron Adolph de Meyer
Through April 3rd

Robert Miller Gallery
524 West 26th Street
New York, NY 10001

Royce Howes Leaving Robert Miller

Via another collector: Director of Photography Royce Howes is leaving Robert Miller Gallery. After 12 years with the gallery, Howes is heading to Teachers College, Columbia University to pursue a Masters Degree in Art and Art Education, trading the business of art for a life in secondary school art education.

Walter Niedermayr @Miller

JTF (just the facts): A total of 15 works, made up of 2, 3 or 4 panels hung edge to edge, framed in blond wood and displayed throughout the entire gallery (entry, 2 small front rooms, and three larger back rooms). The prints are a mixture of C prints and digital ink prints, made in editions of 6. The negatives are from the period 2000 to 2008. All of the works are large, varying in size, but most are approximately 50x100. (Installation shots at right.)

Comments/Context: Italian photographer Walter Niedermayr has made a career out of documenting scenes of immense natural scale. His most recognizable images are set on mountain tops or at alpine ski reports, where spindly lift machinery winds up the mountainside and people are reduced to tiny blips of bright color, often contrasted with vast open panoramic spaces of pure white. He uses this same formula with wide swaths of bleached out sand and dunes, or with expansive rolling green pastures where the miniature people have been replaced by sheep and hay bales.

While we had seen single works by Niedermayr previously, I very much enjoyed seeing a larger body of his images collected and hung together, as many more patterns in his artistic approach emerged. From afar, the works wash out to painterly expanses of color; up close, they are a potent reminder of the insignificance of life and its entertainments when placed against the backdrop of the timeless and indifferent natural world.

The artist's placeholder website is here.

Collector's POV: The works in this show range in price from $19000 to $32000, mostly based on size/the number of panels in the work. Niedermayr's work has started to become more available in the secondary markets in the past few years, finding buyers at auction at prices from $10000 to $25000. I find these images both visually stimulating from a variety of distances and thought provoking in terms of their environmental commentary. This combination will likely make them successful and enduring over the long run.

Rating: ** (two stars) VERY GOOD (rating system described here)

Walter Niedermayr

Through March 14

Robert Miller Gallery

524 West 26th Street

New York, NY 10001