A snapshot of photography exhibits

John Gutmann, "The Cry," 1939 From "The Social Scene"

"The Social Scene" features more than 300 photographs chronicling life from the '30s through the '80s. Among the major artists featured are Robert Frank, who trekked across the United States photographing postwar American culture; Danny Lyon, who investigated conditions in six Texas prisons; and Garry Winogrand, who aimed his camera at everything from high society to the working class.

Experience turn-of-the-century Paris the way Eugene Atget saw it. Schlepping a heavy, tripod-mounted camera and a supply of old-fashioned glass-plate negatives through the French capital, he captured storefront displays, the grimy facades of weathered homes and street fairs -- not the typical postcard fare.

"The Nightingale's Song" is dedicated to the nursing profession, with works spanning six centuries and four continents. The photographs and drawings depict the heroic, heartening and hilarious. There's Florence Nightingale's military hospital in Turkey during the Crimean War in the late 19th century; the Red Cross setting up tents in Zaire during the 1920s; and Maude Callen, an African-American midwife in North Carolina in the 1950s.

Garry Winogrand, Untitled, ca. 1969, silver print From "The Social Scene"

As part of its "Making Choices" series, MoMA is diplaying works done in the idealist tradition with works by noted photographers Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Weston, Ansel Adams and Harry Callahan. The idealist tradition emphasizes perfection.

Running at the same time as "Ideal Motif" is "The Observer: Cartier-Bresson after the War." Henri Cartier-Bresson captured major global events such as Ghandi's assassination; Mao's Cultural Revolution in China; and Nikita's Krushchev ascent to power in the Soviet Union.

Exhibition roundup: May/June
May 2, 2000
Exhibition roundup: March/April
Exhibition roundup: January/February
Exhibition roundup: November/December