Since photography’s inception in the mid-nineteenth century, women have stood among its artistic and technological pioneers, at the forefront of every photographic movement and style. Modern Women | Modern Vision: Photographs from the Bank of America Collection features works by some of the leading artists of the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries.
The exhibition is organized into six thematic sections, chronicling the trailblazing technical and artistic contributions of the artists who worked during each era:
Modernist Innovators – Early twentieth-century artists who broke with the past to explore new forms of expression include Berenice Abbott, Margaret Bourke-White and Imogen Cunningham.
Documentary Photography and the New Deal – Artists whose iconic imagery communicated current events across the U.S. during the Great Depression include Dorothea Lange and Marion Post Wolcott.
The Photo League – Members of this New York-based cooperative, who advocated street photography as an important part of a progressive social agenda, include noted American photographers of the mid-twentieth century such as Helen Levitt, Sonia Handelman Meyer, Ruth Orkin and Esther Bubley.
Modern Masters – The era of social and political upheaval after World War II gave impetus to many photographers to explore their roles in society, such as Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman, Barbara Kruger and Graciela Iturbide.
Exploring the Environment – Contemporary artists who have used the camera to document their surroundings include Virginia Beahan and Laura McPhee, Bernd Becher and Hilla Becher, Terry Evans and DoDo Jin Ming.
The Global Contemporary Lens – Contemporary artists who explore new methods of rendering traditional subject matter include Candida Höfer, Carrie Mae Weems, Sandy Skoglund, Rineke Dijkstra and Karina Juárez.
