GLORY: photographs by Robert D’Alessandro

GLORY: photographs by Robert D’Alessandro
Oct 3, 2026 – Nov 22, 2026

United States United States — Art Gallery
11 Delaware Avenue
Andes, NY 13731

Leo Koenig Inc. in Andes, New York, presents GLORY: photographs by Robert D'Alessandro, on view from 3 October through 22 November 2026. Taken in the 1970s, in the years leading up to the end of the Vietnam War, the images form a stark tableau that reminds viewers, in these contemporary divisive times, that the United States has been here before. The exhibition revisits a moment when public trust in government deeply eroded, the draft sparked massive anti-war protests, and the nation grappled with the consequences of a failed moral dilemma.

During the conflict, the U.S. conducted a psychological warfare operation called "Wandering Soul," which used loudspeakers to play eerie sounds and altered voices to represent the spirits of dead North Vietnamese soldiers. The efficacy there was dubious, but in the U.S., the flag became a ghost of Glory, ubiquitous and insistent, possibly more so because of the doubt that tore at the fabric of national identity. Throughout the 1970s, at locations all over the country, D'Alessandro captured a fading tapestry of a soon-to-be post-Vietnam America. His black-and-white photographs depict subjects exposing the undergirding of the American dream: working-class people from diverse backgrounds, odd specialty stores, kids playing in streets.

These figures mingle with the scars and coping mechanisms of those who fought wars of questionable impetus and even more questionable results. By the end of the war, over 58,000 U.S. service members were lost, with many hundreds of thousands returning with severe injuries and PTSD. The massive death toll amongst the Vietnamese and allied forces left the living with lasting consequences. This is not a nostalgic look at the times. The faces and landscapes often reveal a timorous stance, where D'Alessandro's eye has been a witness. The flag remains central to every shot, immutable, but each iteration is seen through an ever-shifting light.

D'Alessandro's images ask what values the flag represents to each of us. He compels viewers to think about what they want their country to be and become, and to acknowledge that America is a collective creation. Glory was first exhibited in 1973 at the "Letters to My Congressman" exhibit in Washington, D.C. D'Alessandro's work is included in the collections of the Bibliothèque Nationale in Paris, the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, the George Eastman House in Rochester, the Library of Congress, the Smithsonian American Art Museum, and the Walker Art Center in Minneapolis.

Image: Robert D'Alessandro, Broadway, New York City, 1970 © Robert D'Alessandro


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