Tension and Release
Morgan Library Presents Canadian Photography
Tension more often exists between entities than on its own. You can capture it in a photograph, or create it between an artwork and a viewer, but it can’t happen without something or someone refusing to let go. It permeates the field of photography–its movements, its contexts, its aims, and the people who stand behind the cameras. There’s always a person trying to show you what they believe is the truth, and there’s always a viewer trying to find fault.
We turn our attention to all varieties of provocative photography, from contemporary documentary-style collections of the world’s crises, to silk-skinned models in fashion editorials, to turn-of-the-century pinups, to grey-haired glimpses of New York City’s past, to Instagram and back again. All of it grapples with questions of privacy, propriety, and purpose.
The Extended Moment: Photographs from the National Gallery of Canada at Morgan Library & Museum in New York is no different, in that regard, but we find it provocative for its akimbo reach and range.
The photographs read like disparate limbs, each pulling in its own direction. The show includes 70 works by artists including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Lynne Cohen, Josef Sudek, Gordon Parks, Julia Margaret Cameron, Edward Burtynsky, and several other prominent names in the field. While the names are well known, many of the images are unfamiliar, and without an appreciation for the tension that stretches between discordant people or ideas, the beauty of this show might be missed altogether.
The Extended Moment closes on May 26, and in the midst of every manner of tension you may experience while viewing these photographs or simply going about your daily life, we hope you find a moment of release.
