San José Museum of Art

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SJMA to Present The Modern Photographer: Observation And Intention October 1–July 3

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    SAN JOSE, California (September 24, 2010)— The San Jose Museum of Art will explore the role of the photographer as a purposeful observer and editor of everyday experience in an exhibition that opens October 1, 2010. The Modern Photographer: Observation and Intention will feature some 50 photographs and photogravures by notable photographers of the first half of the 20th century, including Ruth Bernhard, Walker Evans, John Gutmann, Dorothea Lange, André Kertész, P.H. Polk, Peter Stackpole, Edward Steichen, Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, Edward Weston, Weegee, and other artists. Drawn from the Museum’s permanent collection, the exhibition emphasizes the ability of the photographer to both craft and chronicle reality.

    “These photographers believed in the utmost importance of detailed observation,” said Jodi Throckmorton, assistant curator at the San Jose Museum of Art. “Regardless, their photographs are carefully orchestrated and highly subjective, influenced by the photographer’s particular vision and consciousness.”

    The images on view range from abstract still-lifes, such as Paul Strand’s Wire Wheel, New York (1920) or Ruth Bernhard’s Lifesavers (1930), to documentary images of Depression-era life, be it the desolate dust bowl farms of Arthur Rothstein or the San Francisco streets of John Gutmann. 

    The Modern Photographer will be on view October 1, 2010, through July 3, 2011.

    SAN JOSE MUSEUM OF ART

    The San Jose Museum of Art is located at 110 South Market Street in downtown San Jose, California. The museum is open Tuesday through Sunday, 11 a.m. to 5 p.m. Admission is $8 for adults, $5 for students and senior citizens, and free to members and children under 6. For more information, call 408-271-2787 or visit www.SanJoseMuseumofArt.org.

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    Programs at the San Jose Museum of Art are generously supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts, by operating support from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation; the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation; the Margaret A. Gargill Foundation, the Koret Foundation, Adobe Foundation, a Cultural Affairs grant from the City of San José, and, with support for exhibition development, Yvonne and Mike Nevens, and Katie and Drew Gibson.