September 19, 2008–January 4, 2009
Susan Meiselas: In History
Since the 1970s, questions of ethics raised by documentary practice have been central to debates in photography. Perhaps no other photographer has so closely and consistently represented and participated in these debates than Susan Meiselas. An American photographer best known for her work covering the political upheavals in Central America in the 1970s and '80s, Meiselas's process has evolved in radical and challenging ways as she has grappled with pivotal questions about her relationship to her subjects, the use and circulation of her images in the media, and the relationship of images to history and memory. Her insistent engagement with these concerns has positioned her as a leading voice in the debate on contemporary documentary practice. Susan Meiselas: In History will be the first U.S. overview of her work, and will be structured around three key projects: Carnival Strippers, Nicaragua, and Kurdistan. The exhibition is organized by Kristen Lubben, Associate Curator at the ICP, and will be accompanied by a catalogue including essays by Lucy Lippard, David Levi-Strauss, Elizabeth Edwards, and others.
America and the Tintype
One of the most intriguing and little studied forms of nineteenth-century photography is the tintype. Introduced in 1856 as a low-cost alternative to the daguerreotype and the albumen print, the tintype was widely marketed from the 1860s through the first decades of the twentieth century as the cheapest and most popular photographic medium. Because of its ubiquity, the tintype provides a startlingly candid record of the political upheavals that occurred during the four decades following the American Civil War, and the personal anxieties they induced. The tintype studio became a kind of performance space where sitters could act out their personal identities, displaying the tools of their trade, masks and costumes, toys and dolls, and props of all sorts. This uniquely American medium provides extraordinary insights into the development of national attitudes and characteristics in the formative years of the early modern era. The exhibition, organized by ICP Chief Curator Brian Wallis and guest curator Steven Kasher, includes over 150 remarkable examples of tintypes drawn from the Permanent Collection at ICP.
Living with the Dead: W. Eugene Smith and World War II
Among the most compelling and heart-rending photographs ever taken of warfare are those made by W. Eugene Smith during World War II. On assignment from Ziff-Davis and LIFE magazine, Smith (1918–1978) covered the Pacific theater from 1943 to 1945. After serving on the carrier U.S.S. Bunker Hill, Smith participated in numerous allied landings, including Guam, Tarawa, Saipan, Leyte, Iwo Jima, and Okinawa, where he was severely wounded in May 1945. Among the iconic images included in this exhibition are Smith's own master prints of his Burial at Sea (1944); Hospital on Leyte (1944); Japanese Civilians Flee Cave on Saipan (1944); and Soldier in Saipan Holds Baby (1944).
