Image: Mishkin Gallery, New York
The exhibition draws on photographs and prints in Baruch College’s permanent collection to examine how artists in the city have represented lovers, passersby, colleagues and icons.
The works span 1929 to 1986, from the construction of the contemporary celebrity image to the anonymous but instantly recognizable figure of the New Yorker, helping define modern portraiture and what it meant to be human in the city.
Edward Steichen’s celebrated ‘In the Studio’ portfolio, made from 1929 to 1932, features Marlene Dietrich, Joan Crawford and Rudolph Valentino. Milt Hinton’s studio photographs of Billie Holiday, Count Basie and other jazz musicians document historic sessions and show musicians posing for Esquire magazine.
Works by Gary Winogrand and Jerome Liebling capture mid-century metropolitan residents on the street. Andy Warhol’s Polaroids of Dolly Parton and Sylvester Stallone, along with portraits made for Interview magazine, are presented with more intimate images of lovers and friends.
Portraits and self-portraits by Alex Katz, Cindy Sherman and Robert Longo address the role of representation and figuration in postwar American art.
The exhibition is organized by Maika Pollack, director of Mishkin Gallery. The Baruch College collection, directed by the Mishkin Gallery, focuses on modern and contemporary art, photography and works on paper.
