This exhibition 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. ... Read more

This exhibition 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.

Among the photographers represented in the exhibition are Berenice Abbott, Diane Arbus, Eugène Atget, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Bill Jacobson, André Kertész, William Klein, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Duane Michals, Irving Penn, Robert Rauschenberg, Man Ray, Aleksandr Rodchenko, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Hiroshi Sugimoto, Sam Taylor-Wood, Andy Warhol, and Gary Winogrand.

Modern Photographs—The Machine, the Body and the City is organized by Miami Art Museum and guest curated by Andy Grundberg, the Administrative Chair of Photography at the Corcoran College of Art and Design in Washington, D.C. The exhibition is supported by MAM’s Annual Exhibition Fund.