8/4/07 - 12/16/07

Deborah Rothschild, Senior Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art

The exhibition features 48 photographs by some of the most influential photographers of the twentieth and twenty-first centuries, both from the museum’s permanent collection and from New York-based art critic Phyllis Tuchman. Tuchman’s collection includes photography by Richard Billingham (British, b. 1970), who was short-listed for the Turner Prize in 2001; Wolfgang Tillmans (German, b. 1968), who is known for his investigation of the abstract found in an ordinary day; Cindy Sherman (American, b. 1954), one of the most famous contemporary photographers today; and Justine Kurland (American, b. Warsaw, Poland, 1969), a young member of what Tuchman describes as the Yale School. Also included is Annie Leibovitz (American, b. 1949), whose current show, Annie Leibovitz: A Photographer’s Life is currently on an international tour. Gregory Crewdson (American, b. 1962) is represented in this exhibition following WCMA’s 2006-2007 exhibition Drawing on Hopper: Gregory Crewdson/Edward Hopper, which ended in April 2007. Additionally, this exhibition features renowned camp photographer Yasumasa Morimura (Japanese, b. 1951), as well as historically important photographers such as Eugene Atget (French, 1857-1927) and Hans Namuth (German American, 1915-1990).

About the collector

Phyllis Tuchman’s prolific career includes numerous contributions to journals such as Art in America, Art News, Art Journal and Smithsonian, as well as exhibition catalogues Dan Flavin (National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, 2004), Minimalism (Chicago 1989), Mark di Suvero (Storm King Art Center, 1985), and most recently Larry Poons (New York, 2007). Additionally she wrote George Segal (Abbeville Press, 1983), a comprehensive book on the artist, making her one of the leading experts on the sculptor’s work. Having curated two important shows “Six in Bronze” in 1984 and “BIG little SCULPTURE” in 1988, Tuchman is an important contributor to the Williams College Museum of Art. In addition to this, she lectured for several years in the Art History Department at Williams College. She received the National Endowment for the Arts Critics Grant and was a Visiting National Endowment for the Humanities Fellow at Princeton University. Currently, Tuchman lives in New York City where she is completing her dissertation, The Rise of Minimalism: Andre, Flavin, Judd, LeWitt, Morris, at the Institute of Fine Arts, New York University.