MUNICH.- Every year since 1975, renowned American photographer Nicholas Nixon (b. 1947) has taken a portrait of his wife Bebe and her three sisters. The requirements for this unusual, long-term artistic project are extremely simple: once a year, the four women reunite for a group portrait, with the only constants being the order in which they appear from left to right and the size of the negative (8 x 10 inch; 20 x 25 cm). The sisters are usually portrayed within a narrow frame that reveals little of the immediate setting. They are often shown standing and from the chest up, more rarely seated or in full view, and nearly always looking directly into the camera. The final image for each year (numerous shots are naturally always taken) is then jointly selected by the photographer and his models. Over a period of 40 years a singular series has emerged that asserts the reality of the photograph just as much as it expresses the moment in time, marked by transience and the ever-changing relationships among the sisters.

Ever since he featured in the 1975 landmark exhibition ‘New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-altered Landscape’, Nicholas Nixon has been widely regarded as one of the most influential photographers of his generation, alongside Robert Adams and William Eggleston. Adhering to a formally austere, objective documentary style, Nixon initially photographed urban views and architecture, as in his ‘Boston Views’ (in the Pinakothek der Moderne collection). From the late 1970s onwards he has primarily concentrated on portrait photography. His works are typically conceived as a series and usually focus on the marginalized and ill in society. He became known to a wider audience for his simultaneously sensitive and objective documentation of HIV-positive people, which was published in book form at the height of the hysteria surrounding the HIV/AIDS epidemic. Nixon is also known for photographing members of his own family. Nixon, who still teaches photography at Massachusetts College of Art and Design, had his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in New York as far back as 1976. Since then he has received numerous awards and scholarships, such as a Guggenheim Fellowship, and his works figure prominently in all major American museum collections and several European ones.

To mark the 40th anniversary of ‘The Brown Sisters’ (loan from the Hoppenstedt Collection), the Pinakothek der Moderne is now presenting the series in full for the first time, together with select images from his 1970s series ‘Boston Views’. To coincide with the Munich showing, a special-edition monograph on the work, published by MoMA in 2014, is now available with an accompanying German-language booklet (available exclusively from the museum gift shop, priced € 29.80). Revolving around the exhibition is also a varied programme of talks, expert discussions, workshops, and films.

Exhibition curator: Dr. Inka Graeve Ingelmann, Head of the Photography and New Media Collection