Modern Photographs: the Machine, the Body and the City October 13, 2008

'Modern Photographs: The Machine, the Body and the City - Selections from the Charles Cowles Collection' traces the evolution of photography in the 20th and 21st centuries, from early Pictorialist works that mimic the moodiness of late 19th-century painting, through the Modern formal experimentations of the Constructivist and Bauhaus schools, to the documentary ethos of mid-century America and the large-scale, staged tableaux of our own time. As indicated by its title, the exhibition also examines three prominent themes highlighted by the selection: depictions of the metropolis, modern machinery, and the human figure. A number of works highlight the relationship between photography and other art forms, including portraits of such prominent artists as Henri Matisse, Jackson Pollock, Andy Warhol and Robert Rauschenberg.