
Family Portrait
June 8, 2013 - November 10, 2013

Untitled (Girls in Plaid "Hoovering" the Lawn), 1987-1991 (negative); 1992 (print)
Nick Waplington, British
[
More Details ]

Family Portrait
June 8, 2013 - November 10, 2013
Family Portrait examines the many ways photographers picture family, from amateurs who
document their own households, to progressive reformers who make views of domestic life
to encourage social change, to artists who explore the deeply personal and often private
nature of familial relationships. It includes photographs that span the history of the medium,
beginning with an early daguerreotype portrait of sisters by the Philadelphia studio of
William and Frederick Langenheim through a contemporary portrait of a wealthy couple and
their children by Tina Barney.
The centerpiece of
Family Portrait is a selection of pages from the mid-1850s family album of
British amateur photographers Lucy and Charlotte Bridgeman. A promised gift in memory of
Anne d’Harnoncourt, the Bridgeman album has never before been shown publicly and is a
highlight of the Museum’s nineteenth-century photographic holdings.
The exhibition includes several Pictorialist interpretations of home life by figures such as
Gertrude Käsebier, Alice Austin, and Robert S. Redfield; documentary photographs by
Lewis Hine, Margaret Bourke-White, and Arthur Rothstein; and photographs by artists
whose own family members served as subjects, including Harry Callahan, Robert Frank,
Emmet Gowin, Sally Mann, and Nicholas Nixon. Other featured selections include iconic
works by Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, William Klein, and Paul Strand.
Visitors are invited to take their own family portraits and share them on Instagram using #pmafamily. Search #pmafamily to see them all, or check out our favorites on
Facebook and
Twitter.
This exhibition is part of Art Splash, a suite of five family-friendly exhibitions, interactive art and play zones, and daily family programs.
Sponsors
This exhibition received generous support from Lois G. and Julian A. Brodsky.
Curators
Amanda Bock, Horace W. Goldsmith Curatorial Fellow in Photography; and
Peter Barberie, The Brodsky Curator of Photographs, Alfred Stieglitz Center
Location
Julien Levy Gallery, first floor, Perelman Building