This exhibition at the Rijksmuseum explores the vast and complex world of American photography, going beyond famous names to showcase a diverse range of images, from amateur snapshots to fine art, advertising, and intriguing curios spanning three centuries. The curators, Mattie Boom and Hans Rooseboom, embraced a surprising approach, allowing unexpected discoveries to guide their selection, resulting in a captivating journey through the multifaceted nature of American identity.
There are infinite ways you could open an exhibition on the gapingly expansive theme of American photography, a category that has influenced Western visual culture in more ways that we can fathom. Mattie Boom and Hans Rooseboom, the photography curators at the Rijksmuseum – and the minds behind the, 1976, Gelatin silver print, 318 x 470 mmCurio box made of cigarette packets with portraits of roommates, late 1960s, Wood, handwoven cigarette packets, gelatin silver prints, 140 x 110 x 195 mm Upon entering the show’s first room, a small, white-walled, high-ceilinged space, visitors are confronted by a single object housed in a glass display case.
It is a square box, small enough to fit in the palm of your hand, made from strips of cigarette cartons woven together. On each side of the cube is a different portrait representing one of four young American roommates who crafted the box as a memento of their time spent living together . If you entered the exhibition expecting nothing but, 1965, Gelatin silver print, 18.7 x 19 cm The exhibition does feature work by these great image-makers, and many more besides, but it also includes a whole treasure trove of amateur photography, fine art photography, advertising imagery, books, magazines and intriguing curios, spanning three centuries, all of which serve to paint a picture as complex, contradictory and compelling as America itself. ‘When we began planning this exhibition, we decided to do it differently,’ explains Rooseboom. ‘We headed out to different institutions and photography collections and allowed ourselves to be surprised by what we encountered.’, 1938, Gelatin silver print, 244 x 203 mm The show is similarly surprising: at times celebratory, at others deeply tragic. It shows the many ways in which photography can function – as a means of remembering or honouring, as a way of promoting a dream or documenting a reality. In the second room, photographs from Robert Frank’s groundbreaking series, captured on a road trip across 30 states, shows his unflinching view of US society across different demographics – a vision that was, back then, critically scorned. While opposite hang glossy, brightly coloured magazine covers from the same period, presenting an entirely different vision – one of wealthy housewives and basking holidayers. Later rooms filled with portraits of all different kinds call to mind Susan Sontag’s proclamation that ‘in America, the photographer is not simply the person who records the past, but the one who invents it’. A set of ‘American Indian souvenir’ playing cards from 1900, featuring photographs of Native Americans and created to sell to tourists, hammers home the ways in which photography can be used to tell a very different story to the one unfolding. Meanwhile, a nearby image of one of the Little Rock Nine – a group of Black students who enrolled at an Arkansas high school in 1957 in the wake of desegregation, and were subjected to relentless discrimination – transversely shines a light on the terrible truths at play in midcentury America. Elsewhere, Diane Arbus’s portrait of a young man in curlers at home on West 20th Street inCity platforms and celebrates queerness, its protagonist holding a cigarette between long, painted fingernails and staring directly at the viewer. When the curators first began envisaging the show seven years ago, they could never have imagined that it would open just weeks after Trump’s second inauguration, Boom tells me. As it is, the exhibition – which is also filled with dreamy evocations of American road trips and gorgeous landscapes, happy friends and families, and works by some of the 20th-century’s most visionary artists – couldn’t feel more timely. America is a country that has irrevocably shaped the world we inhabit, for better and for worse, and there is no greater testament to this fact than its photographic output. Receive our daily digest of inspiration, escapism and design stories from around the world direct to your inbox.Receive email from us on behalf of our trusted partners or sponsors Joanna Hogg on her new film for Miu Miu and a lifelong relationship with style: ‘What we wear is very revealing’ Casting Miu Miu’s ‘Wander’ handbag in the starring role, director Joanna Hogg’s new short film is the latest chapter of the house’s Women’s Tales series. Ahead of its premiere, Simon Chilvers sits down with Hogg to find out more13 February 25Pantone’s mocha mousse is the colour of the year. Here are ten watches in the delectable rich chocolate toneSundance Film Festival, which runs 23 January - 2 February, has long been considered a hub of cinematic innovation. These are the ones to watch from this year’s premieresWhat is RedNote? Inside the social media app drawing American users ahead of the US TikTok ban Downloads of the Chinese-owned platform have spiked as US users look for an alternative to TikTok, which faces a ban on national security grounds. What is Rednote, and what are the implications of its ascent?‘Gas Tank City’, a new monograph by Andrew Holmes, is a photorealist eye on the American WestFirst look: Sphere’s new exterior artwork draws on a need for human connection‘Marc Hom: Re-Framed’ has taken over the grounds of the Fenimore Art Museum, Cooperstown, planting Samuel L Jackson, Gwyneth Paltrow and more ‘personalities of the world’ into the landscapeCreative director Alexander May tells us of the multidisciplinary approach that drives his LA studio Sized and its offspring, a 5,000 sq ft event space and an exhibition series
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