Shades of Gray

Higher Pictures presents Susan Meiselas’ earliest series of photographs, 44 Irving Street 1970 – 1971, following its exhibition at Harvard Art Museums. This is the artist’s fourth solo exhibition with the gallery. In 1970, while still a student at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, Susan Meiselas was living in a boarding house at 44 Irving Street in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Boarding houses, like the one at 44 Irving Street, often began as large, single-family homes in cities or college towns. As average family sizes decreased and the socioeconomic makeup of neighborhoods changed, these homes were then divided up into smaller units while maintaining a shared kitchen, bathrooms, and common areas. As a result, each of the rooms at 44 Irving Street retained some of the home’s original single-family character. At Harvard, Meiselas enrolled in a photography course and chose to photograph her neighbors for a class project. Though she didn’t know any of them, she began knocking on their doors and asking to take portraits of them in their rooms. “The camera was this way to connect,” Meiselas remembers. Once she had developed the film, she would make contact sheets to share with her neighbors, initiating a dialogue about how they saw themselves. Their written responses, which Meiselas presented alongside the photographs, provide insights into their lives and how they felt the pictures did or did not capture them. By incorporating their perspectives into the work itself, Meiselas draws out a crucial tension between socially engaged photography as a historical genre and the subjects it purports to depict. The photographs and letters on view in this exhibition are the fruits of those exchanges. Though boarding houses are often transitory living spaces, Meiselas was drawn to the individuality and self-expression she discovered in each room. This comes across in the images themselves, which show her subjects at home and in situ, surrounded by their personal effects. In return, the letters they wrote are sometimes strikingly honest and revelatory, a written punctum—Roland Barthes’ term for something that pierces the viewer—as a counterpoint to the photographs. This series helped Meiselas develop her conception of “photography as an exchange in the world.” “It wasn’t about the formalism of photography,” she says, “It was about the narrative and the connectivity.” The exhibition is accompanied by the first monograph of 44 Irving Street, 1970-1971 by Susan Meiselas published in partnership with TBW books + Higher Pictures. The dates for the opening and book signing are to be announced during the run of the show. Stay tuned! Susan Meiselas (b. 1948) received her BA from Sarah Lawrence College and her MA in visual education from Harvard University. She was a 1992 MacArthur Fellow and is the recipient of a Guggenheim Fellowship (2015) and the Deutsche Börse Photography Foundation Prize (2019), among other awards. Mediations, a retrospective exhibition of Meiselas’ work, was initiated by the Jeu de Paume, Paris, in 2018 and traveled to eight venues including SFMOMA, San Francisco (2018); Instituto Moreira Salles, São Paulo (2020), Kunst Haus Wien, Vienna (2021); and C/O Berlin (2022). She has been a member of the photographic collective Magnum Photos since 1976 and has been the president of the Magnum Foundation since 2007. She lives and works in New York City.

Daniel Cooney Fine Art is honored to present “George Dureau: Photographs”, the gallery’s first exhibition of the late artist’s work and Dureau’s debut solo exhibition in Santa Fe, New Mexico. On view from May 31 through July 19, 2025, the show features 40 vintage black-and-white photographs spanning the 1970s through the 1990s, offering a rare and intimate view into the formal and emotional depth of Dureau’s celebrated practice. A lifelong resident of New Orleans, George Dureau (1930–2014) turned to photography in the 1970s, having previously established himself as a painter. His lens captured a deeply personal circle of friends, lovers, and fellow eccentrics, many of whom existed on the margins of society. Dureau’s photographs are known for their rigorous composition and profound empathy, portraying his subjects with dignity, tenderness, and heroic strength. While Dureau remains lesser known to the broader public, his work holds iconic status among artists, historians, and curators. His photographs are widely studied by a new generation of creative minds who revere not only his artistic mastery but also his radical inclusivity and compassionate worldview—qualities that feel more resonant now than ever. Dureau received his B.A. in Fine Art from Louisiana State University in 1952 and studied architecture briefly at Tulane University. His work has been exhibited internationally and is the subject of two monographs: George Dureau: The Photographs (Aperture, 2016) and George Valentine Dureau: Life and Art in New Orleans (University Press of Mississippi, 2025). Image: "Terrell Hopkins", 1987 © George Dureau

Blur / Obscure / Distort: Photography and Perception brings together photographs that are linked by the common objective of disrupting the viewer’s sense of time, space, place, or scale. Sometimes considered errors, photographic blur, distortion, and obfuscation have also been important creative and aesthetic strategies adopted by artists since the medium’s 19th-century inception. Highlighting photographs from the Norton’s Collection and a selection of special loans, this exhibition points to the constructed nature of perception and, in turn, photography’s vulnerability to manipulation even when it appears to show what is “real.” Image: Jeff Brouws, Interstate 40, Blurred car, New Mexico, 1992

Strange and Familiar Places presents 26 works from 10 contemporary photographers, offering fresh perspectives on rural life in the Midwest, South, and Western United States. These new acquisitions, displayed for the first time, showcase intimate photographs that explore the people, communities, and landscapes of these often-overlooked regions, challenging our preconceived notions of them. Great storytelling is at the heart of these works, where the sense of place is just as vital as character, symbolism, and plot. The artists draw inspiration from music, fiction, history, folklore, and the art of photography itself, creating poetic, evocative images. Their approaches vary, with some using a classic documentary style while others stage or carefully compose their photographs, offering new and sometimes surprising ways of seeing the world. Regardless of technique, each artist highlights the humanity of their subjects, deepening our understanding of place. The exhibition features work by Antone Dolezal, Terry Evans, Laura McPhee, Rahim Fortune, Holly Lynton, Elise Kirk, Kristine Potter, RaMell Ross, Bryan Schutmaat, and Lara Shipley. Image: Holly Lynton, American (b. 1972). Les, Honeybees, the Bosque, New Mexico, 2007 © Holly Lynton

This exhibition reimagines the history of American photography, tracing its evolution from its inception in 1839 through the early 20th century. Showcasing works from The Met’s William L. Schaeffer Collection, it places celebrated photographers—including Josiah Johnson Hawes, John Moran, Carleton Watkins, and Alice Austen—alongside remarkable yet lesser-known practitioners from towns and cities across the nation. Through a diverse array of photographic formats, from daguerreotypes and cartes de visite to stereographs and cyanotypes, the exhibition highlights how photography swiftly shaped America’s cultural, artistic, and psychological landscape. More than a technological breakthrough, photography became a defining lens through which the nation saw itself, reflecting its transformation and identity. Even before the formal announcement of the medium’s invention, American essayist and philosopher Ralph Waldo Emerson astutely observed in 1835, “Our Age is Ocular,” foreshadowing photography’s profound impact on visual culture. Image: Unknown Maker, Young Man with Rooster, 1850s

Process Work: Intersections of Photography and Print ca. 1825 to Today explores the development of photographic printmaking processes and traces its historical legacy into the present day. Starting around 1825, a widespread interest in reproducing visual information faster and more cheaply fueled an explosion of experimentation in photographic printmaking techniques, with wide-ranging effects across visual culture and the fine arts. This exhibition highlights those early experiments and innovations, as well as the culture of mass-market illustration and printed media into which they first unfolded. Across a presentation of over 40 historic and contemporary photogravures, collotypes, photolithographs and relief prints, this exhibition poses the question: What are the social, aesthetic, and technological possibilities that emerge from the marriage between photography and print, both then and now? Curated by Sarah Mirseyedi, Andrew W. Mellon Fellow for Prints, Drawings, and Photographs.

ARTISTS INCLUDED: Lucinda Bunnen | Keith Calhoun | Rosalind Fox Solomon | Jill Frank | Carlos Gustavo | Betty Press | Jared Ragland | Mark Steinmetz Growing up in the Deep South often feels like growing up in a different time or country. The unique landscape, history and ways of being stand apart from the monolith of mainstream culture. Viewed from the outside as backwards and lacking; stereotypes of southerness are inert, and fail to include the South’s true complexity, enduring charm, and diversity. The reality of the South is lived, active and chosen every day. There’s a colloquialism here that “pretty is as pretty does”, or in other words, pleasant behavior always outweighs pleasant looks. In this exhibition, featuring work from eight photographers collected by The Do Good Fund of Columbus, GA, each artist captures what we do—a farmer fashioning a scarecrow for his garden, parading dancers, or a brass band performing for a church service. These images convey the ways we live, with intricate layers of identity and belonging woven into the fabric of Southern life. These are decisive moments. Intimate portraits and landscapes alike embody the spirit of the South as lived and living. As Pretty Does celebrates ways of being, the familiar and unexpected alike. Through the lenses of these photographers, history and modernity intersect, and the ordinary becomes extraordinary. While not always traditionally beautiful, the allure, honesty, and unpredictability found in these everyday moments resonates like jazz through humid Southern air. This exhibition was curated by Micah Mermilliod for Alabama Contemporary in the fall of 2024 in partnership with The Do Good Fund, and is on view at the University of Alabama Gallery in Tuscaloosa. The Do Good Fund is a collection of contemporary, post World War II photographs capturing the rich culture in the Southeastern United States. Since 2012 this public based Georgia charity has collected works from Guggenheim Fellows and emerging regional artists alike, and stands as one of the most complete artistic views of modern Southern living. Image: Jessica, Athens, Georgia © Mark Steinmetz

Our tendency is to make something of the photograph, to try to say immediately what it means and how it works and why it is made. But these images are more disjunctive than that, and often frustrate our impulses. Though approaches to photographic abstraction are varied, the end results all deny the viewer a discernible reference to reality, defying the most conventional norm in photography. There is a tendency among photographers to rebel against the photographic norm and revel in the basic appeal of the unpredictable impact of abstract processes." —Lyle Rexer is an author, curator, critic, and columnist who lives in Brooklyn, New York and has taught at RISD and the School of Visual Arts in NYC. DEB DAWSON BRYAN GRAF CAROL EISENBERG TARA SELLIOS PAUL RIDER LUC DEMERS RUSH BROWN JOHN GINTOFF JOAN FITZSIMMONS CAROLINE SAVAGE ANDREW O’BRIEN BRENTON HAMILTON Image: Caroline Savage, Trees are Dancing, Alvin Ailey.

Robert Koch Gallery is pleased to present New World Atlas: California & Nevada, the third solo exhibition at the gallery by American photographer Matt Black. Known for his visceral approach to documentary photography, Black turns his focus to the evolving climate of the American West, using thermal and infrared imaging to examine the effects of extreme weather events and the vulnerabilities of a rapidly shifting landscape. New World Atlas is organized in a series of 17 chapters, one for each state lying west of the 100th meridian. This exhibition presents California & Nevada, the first two chapters of this larger body of work. In this series Black departs from conventional photographic representation and incorporates technologies that extend human perception. Thermal imaging makes the invisible visible, allowing viewers to witness heat as a signifier of change, from drought and fire to evaporation. Infrared photography distinguishes the living from the inert, exposing a shifting terrain beneath what once seemed immutable. Based in California’s Central Valley, Black draws on his own experience with the region’s environmental volatility. He writes: “Giga-fires, mega-droughts, and thousand-year floods are reshaping the American West. From my home, I have seen massive Sierra wildfires fill the sky with smoke, and over 500,000 acres of farmland fall fallow for lack of water.” By working across the sub-humid and arid zones of the American West, areas particularly susceptible to shifts in temperature and moisture, New World Atlas offers an urgent and deeply felt chronicle of ecological transformation. Rather than documenting catastrophe alone, Black’s images invite viewers to consider new ways of seeing and understanding a landscape increasingly defined by extremes Image: Gold Butte, Nevada. 2024. Cactus., 2024 © Matt Black

Joseph Bellows Gallery is pleased to announce its upcoming solo exhibition, Nan Brown: Trailers Collected. The show will run from June 7th through July 26th in the gallery’s Atrium space and will feature Brown's stunning typology of mobile homes. Her skillfully made, thiocarbamide-toned gelatin silver prints, in both 6 x 6 and 10 x 10 inch image size, are exceptionally beautiful, rendering many of these aluminum abodes with a radiant glow. Although some remain austere, sleek and unadorned, many showcase their quirky individuality through various exterior customizations, interior design and surrounding environments. Despite the limitations of space and construction of these modest homes, Brown's tightly-cropped images share their inhabitants' efforts for unique personalization and expression of identity. As a child, traveling across California, Nan Brown (American 1952 - 2013), was drawn, through her car window, to the otherness of the small, roadside communities and the dislocation of lone trailers. The artist comments, "From the side they are billboard-like and wonderfully two-dimensional. Their facades are of subtly beautiful tones and textures, a black and white photographer’s dream. The squares and rectangles of windows within the squares and rectangles of trailers, I trapped within the square camera format. The repetition of form causes people to look closely at each trailer for variation. Portrait-like, individual personalities are revealed, and later their fascination began to include the seeming license expressed in the treatment of the exteriors and yards". In the 1970’s Nan studied photography at the San Francisco Art Institute. She taught herself Ansel Adams’ Zone System, and was especially influenced by his philosophy of craft. While largely self-instructed, she has studied with Mark Citret, John Sexton, and Peter Goin, as well as Ansel Adams. Her work is in the permanent collections of Museum Fine Arts, Houston and the Southwest Museum of Photography. Recently, a complete set of her series, Trailers Collected, was acquired by the Special Collections Department at Stanford University's Art and Architecture Library.

This landmark show will present over 100 photographs by the Austrian-born photographer Trude Fleischmann (1895-1990), one of the most accomplished female photographers of the 20th century. The show, the first solo museum exhibition of the photographer’s work to be presented in the United States, will highlight Fleischmann’s groundbreaking career in Vienna during the 1920s and 1930s, as well as her influential work in the United States after her emigration in 1939. At just 25 years old, Fleischmann opened her own studio in Vienna and achieved great success as a photographer. She became known for photographing artists, dancers, actors, and other key cultural figures of the era. When the Nazis invaded during the 1938 Anschluss, she fled first to London and then to New York. She opened a studio just behind Carnegie Hall on 56th Street in 1940 and photographed many of the artists and intellectuals of the day, including Eleanor Roosevelt, Marian Anderson, and Albert Einstein. Lenders to the exhibition include the Wien Museum in Vienna, Austria, the New York Public Library, and private collectors. Importantly, it will also feature never-before-exhibited works from the Fleischmann and Cornides family collections, as well as the family collection of her student and life-long friend, photographer Helen Post (1907-1979). Together, these works provide an unprecedented and intimate view of the photographer’s personal and professional legacy. Image: Trude Fleischmann, Toni Birkmeyer Ballet in “Cancan,” Vienna, 1930, gelatin silver print. Lent by Michael Mattis and Judith Hochberg. © Trude Fleischmann

Von Lintel Gallery is pleased to present Chloe Sherman’s photographs from her renowned series RENEGADES San Francisco: the 1990s. Sherman’s photographs provide an unparalleled look into San Francisco history as a queer cultural renaissance unfolded. In today’s political climate, where LGBTQ+ rights are increasingly under attack across the United States, Sherman’s photography is more relevant than ever. It offers a poignant reminder of the resilience and strength of queer communities during challenging times. By preserving these stories, the exhibition inspires younger generations to continue fighting for equality and safe spaces, while honoring those who paved the way. Chloe Sherman’s work reminds us that joy, creativity, and solidarity are acts of resistance. This series is a window into a time of revolution and change, demonstrating a frenetic energy in even the simplest moments. It captures a time when wayward youth, outcasts and artists could show up, join forces, make new rules, work little, and live free. Offering a view of history that is crucial to the culture of San Francisco, Sherman’s photographs are timeless and relevant. They serve as a compelling ode to a unique era in the city's queer history, with a familiarity that rings true now. Known for her keen eye and remarkable ability to capture raw emotions, Sherman's work transports viewers back in time, immersing them in the city's underground scene, activism, and innovative subcultures. As Sherman explains, “In the early 1990s, I began documenting a generation of young, self-identified queers in San Francisco's Mission District. Rent was affordable, community was palpable, and gay youth, artists, and free spirits migrated to the city to find each other. Women-owned bars, clubs, tattoo shops, galleries, and cafés proliferated, and cultural norms were eschewed in favor of a vibrant and resilient lifestyle. I was there as a new wave of feminism embraced gender-bending, butch/femme culture flourished, and transgender pioneers forged a new path.” Chloe Sherman’s work has been exhibited in galleries internationally, including a current Group show at SF MOMA, San Francisco, CA. Her work is held in public collections such as SFMOMA, San Francisco, CA, The National Portrait Gallery, Washington DC and The Addison Gallery of American Art, Andover MA. The artist lives and works in San Francisco. Sherman’s monograph, RENEGADES San Francisco: the 1990s, published by Hantje Cantz, will be available at the gallery. Image: Corner Store 14th & Guerrero St. San Francisco, CA 1996 © Chloe Sherman