DOYLESTOWN, PA.- The Michener Art Museum will reopen to the public February 5, 2021 with the new exhibition Through the Lens: Modern Photography in the Delaware Valley. On view through August 15, 2021, this major exhibition is curated by the Michener’s Curator of American Art Laura Turner Igoe, PhD, and Curatorial Assistant Tara Kaufman, MA. Through the Lens explores nearly 70 years of artistic experimentations with photographic processes and subject matter by artists in the Delaware Valley region.
The exhibition is organized through the themes of form, figure, landscape, community, and social and political activism and highlights over 100 photographs by nearly 40 artists. Through the Lens draws primarily from the Michener’s own deep collection of local photography, including many works that have never before been on view, from late prints by the modernist Charles Sheeler—whose time in Doylestown cemented his dedication to the medium—to aerial views of industrial sites by Newtown-based photographer Emmett Gowin. Other represented photographers include Tom Baril, Paula Chamlee, Edmund Eckstein, Susan Fenton, David Graham, Diane Levell, Martha Madigan, Ray Metzger, Tim Portlock, Jack Rosen, Thomas Shillea, and Michael A. Smith. Exhibition curators have also borrowed work by Donald E. Camp, Maria Dumlao, Ada Trillo, and William Earle Williams that explores issues of race, identity, and social and environmental justice in order to connect the Museum’s historic images with contemporary concerns.
“Tara Kaufman and I are excited to share a snapshot from our rich photography collection with visitors,” states Curator of American Art Laura Turner Igoe, PhD. “From local landscape views to images of public protest, these works capture the creativity and fresh perspective of the region’s photographers over several decades.”
The photographic community in Bucks County and greater Philadelphia area has a rich history, anchored by robust photography programs at Bucks County Community College, the Tyler School of Art at Temple University, the University of the Arts, and other local universities. Many nationally recognized photographers have settled or passed through the area to study, teach, and document the region’s landscape features, unique architecture, and vibrant urban areas. While these photographers have embraced a wide variety of subject matter and techniques, they are united by a deep interest in photographic processes, both historic and new, as well as their capacity for expanding our perspective of the word around us.
In addition to this thought-provoking show, the Michener will reopen with new artworks installed in its permanent collection galleries, highlighting new acquisitions and visitor favorites.
