America is a snapshot culture. A single still frame is enough for the viewer to get lost in a remembrance of the past, however fleeting. Thus, a professional photographer’s goal is to draw attention to a piece of history with each frame he takes.
“Portraiture Now: Feature Photography” looks through the lenses of six different photographers who have earned acclaim for their work that appears in famed publications such as The New York Times Magazine and Esquire. Each of the six artists’ viewpoint of humanity offers a unique perspective on the art of photography and the means of piquing the interest of a broad audience.
A corridor containing six sparely decorated rooms echoes the images of these artists, each room containing a statement of intent.
“Photography is a kind of permission,” writes Katy Grannan, whose work is the first encountered by visitors as they walk through the exhibit. Grannan’s photographs excel at expressing true drama and emotion in the mundane. This photographical acumen is particularly evident in “Keli,” one of a series of photos depicting the impact of post-traumatic stress disorder on the lives of Iraq War veterans in which a woman sits on a swing with her child, a scene desperate and lonely and radiating with confusion.
Jocelyn Lee’s portrayal of adolescent girls and the elderly underscores the physical fragility of humanity and engenders an appreciation for growth as Lee examines various “states of being.” Steve Pyke is intrigued by what can be inferred from the human face—“The way we live our lives is etched into the landscape of our faces,” he writes. From the revealing stills of Sir Ian McKellen to those of Michael J. Fox, it’s clear that Pyke is a master at capturing these physiognomic etchings.
Martin Schoeller displays a similar obsession with the face, or at the very least has perfected the portraiture of human expression. His vibrant head-shots of formerly dueling politicos Barack Obama and John McCain grace the corridor’s walls. Even a mysterious portrait of Jack Nicholson rears its head, with a caption asking the question, are we who we portray ourselves to be?
The final two rooms showcase the photography of Alec Soth and Ryan McGinley. The former finds interest in depicting woman as a representation of the unknown and something that he’ll never understand. “Are my pictures romanticized? Sexualized? Why do I see women in this way?” he asks, using the imagery as a means of understanding himself. McGinley’s portraiture, the most variant of the group, centers around colorful British musician Morrissey, a man idealized for his sheer activeness on and off stage. “He has a way of saying exactly what I need to hear,” states a praising McGinley, who used the stills “to capture the feeling from the perspective of a fan attending a Morrissey concert.”
“Portraiture Now” expresses the art of digging beyond the surface detail to uncover startling revelations. With each photographer comes a new set of eyes through which to see the world; with each photograph, an attempt to preserve not only a moment in history but also the emotions captured within the frame.
The National Portrait Gallery is located at Eighth and F Streets NW. “Portraiture Now: Feature Photography” exhibit will be in showing through September 27, 2009.
