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Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine

Apr. 3 – Jul. 11, 2021

Through over 150 works, explore how photography, graphic design, and popular magazines converged to transform American visual culture from the 1930s to the 1950s.

As the threat of war loomed in the late 1930s, avant-garde strategies in photography and design reached the United States via European émigrés, including Bauhaus artists forced out of Nazi Germany. The unmistakable aesthetic made popular by such magazines as Harper’s Bazaar and Vogue — whose art directors, Alexey Brodovitch and Alexander Liberman, were both immigrants and accomplished photographers — emerged from a distinctly American combination of innovation, inclusiveness, and pragmatism.

Featuring over 150 works including photographs, layouts, and cover designs, the exhibition considers the connections and influences of designers and photographers such as Richard Avedon, Lillian Bassman, Lester Beall, Margaret Bourke-White, Louis Faurer, Robert Frank, William Klein, Lisette Model, Gordon Parks, Irving Penn, Cipe Pineles, and Paul Rand.

#ModernLookPhoto

 

In the Press

“Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine … offers a longing gaze on the last century’s fashion and editorial photography — with snaps by Edward Steichen, Irving Penn, Louise Dahl-Wolfe, for publications like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, Life, Look, Fortune and the rest.”
— The New York Times

“While showcasing some of the period’s most elite, innovative artists, the exhibit presents a vision of accessible and invigorating mass culture that couldn’t be more relevant today.”
— The Forward

“The exhibition and accompanying catalogue reveal both the extraordinary talent coursing through midcentury New York and the limitations that the commercial milieu placed on even the most creative artists of the era.”
— Forbes

Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine is organized by Mason Klein, Senior Curator, The Jewish Museum.

Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine is made possible by The Mimi and Barry J. Alperin Family Fund, a gift from the estate of Gaby and Curtis Hereld, Phillip and Edith Leonian Foundation, Heidi and Richard Rieger, Wyeth Foundation for American Art, Lisa S. Pritzker, Ronit and Bill Berkman, John and Helga Klein, and Ellen Schwartz Harris.

Wyeth Foundation logo

This project is supported in part by an award from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Additional support is provided by The Skirball Fund for American Jewish Life Exhibitions, Horace W. Goldsmith Exhibitions Endowment Fund, The Alfred J. Grunebaum & Ruth Grunebaum Sondheimer Memorial Fund, and other generous donors.

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Blurry black-and-white photograph of four figures in motion on a stage. The performers, dressed in dark clothing, appear to be mid-jump or dance against a light-toned backdrop with arched shapes, creating a ghostly, abstract effect.

Alexey Brodovitch, Choreartium (Three Men Jumping), c. 1935, gelatin silver print. Collection of Eric and Lizzie Himmel, New York.

Exhibition highlights

  • High-contrast black-and-white portrait of a woman with a towel wrapped around her head. She gazes to the side with an expressive open-mouthed smile and wide eyes. One hand rests near her face while blurred motion suggests movement in the foreground. The background is solid black, emphasizing her illuminated face.

    Lillian Bassman, A Report to Skeptics, Suzy Parker, April 1952, Harper's Bazaar. Gelatin silver print. Collection of Eric and Lizzie Himmel, New York. © Estate of Lillian Bassman.

  • Woman sits cross-legged on the floor of a studio filled with large, colorful abstract paintings covering the floor and walls. She wears a pink blouse, light pants, and a headband, resting her chin on one hand while looking at the camera. The vibrant brushstrokes around her feature bold blues, reds, yellows, and organic shapes.

    Gordon Parks, Portrait of Helen Frankenthaler, 1957, printed 2018. Purchase: Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund. Artwork © The Gordon Parks Foundation. The Jewish Museum, New York.

  • Person wearing a long dark coat and hat stands in a high angular opening of a modernist concrete structure, viewed from below. The geometric architecture features curved and slanted planes with dramatic contrast between light and shadow.

    Martin Munkacsi, Woman on Electrical Productions Building, New York World’s Fair, 1938, gelatin silver print. F.C. Gundlach Collection, Hamburg. Artwork © Estate of Martin Munkácsi. Courtesy Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York.

  • Person wearing a checkered coat and dark hat stands outdoors reading a newspaper, facing a tall modernist glass building. The figure is seen from behind, with gloved hands holding the open newspaper.

    Frances McLaughlin-Gill, Nan Martin, Street Scene, First Avenue, 1949. Gelatin silver print. Private collection. © Estate of Frances McLaughlin-Gil.

  • Cover of Direction magazine, December 1940 issue, featuring intersecting barbed wire creating a cross shape against a beige background with scattered red dots. A handwritten holiday tag reading

    Direction, Vol. 3 No. 9, December 1940. Cover design: Paul Rand.

  • Surreal black-and-white collage of a female profile made from mesh wire, with light and dark hair swatches placed on top to mimic styled waves. In the upper left corner is the text

    Ringl + Pit (Grete Stern and Ellen Auerbach), Komol Haircoloring, 1932, printed 1985. Gelatin silver print. The Jewish Museum, NY, Purchase: Horace W. Goldsmith Foundation Fund Artwork © ringl+pit, courtesy Robert Mann Gallery, New York.

  • Close-up photograph of a large, rusted industrial wheel suspended by chains at a scrap yard. The heavy machinery part hangs mid-air, revealing bolts and worn surfaces. Below it, stacks of metal sheets and disassembled parts are scattered across the ground, with steel framework structures in the background.

    Josef Breitenbach "What about Steel?", New Jersey, 1942 Vintage toned gelatin silver print, Gitterman Gallery, New York.

  • Close-up photograph of a sculpted bust of a woman, rendered in a highly textured, rough style. The white sculpture shows a solemn face with wide, expressive eyes, detailed lips, and softly indicated hair, set against a stark white background that blends into the figure's shoulders and neck.

    Herbert Matter, Annette IV (detail), 1962, Vintage gelatin silver print, Gitterman Gallery, New York.

  • Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Antwaun Sargent on Tyler Mitchell

    Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Antwaun Sargent on Tyler Mitchell

  • Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Gillian Laub on Margaret Bourke-White

    Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Gillian Laub on Margaret Bourke-White

  • Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Dario Calmese on the Magazine Cover as a Tool of Protest

    Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Dario Calmese on the Magazine Cover as a Tool of Protest

  • Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Dor Guez on the Power of Archival Photographs to Revisit History

    Modern Look: Artists and Writers Respond | Dor Guez on the Power of Archival Photographs to Revisit History

  • View of an exhibition entrance titled

    Installation view of Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine, The Jewish Museum, New York. Photo by: Daniel Salemi

  • Exhibition gallery view with rust-colored walls from the show Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine. The central wall features a large black-and-white photograph of a person reading a newspaper, standing in front of a tall modernist building. The left wall displays a selection of framed photographs and texts, while the right wall contains the exhibition introduction text. The surrounding galleries, visible in the background, have gray-blue walls with additional framed artworks. The floor and ceiling lighting accentuate the clean, modern presentation.

    Installation view of Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine, The Jewish Museum, New York. Photo by: Daniel Salemi

  • Gallery view from the exhibition Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine. The room features bright yellow walls and floor with gray accents. In the center, a metal framework structure holds mounted posters and magazine spreads from Scope, showcasing modern graphic design and photography. Additional framed works are displayed on the surrounding walls, including abstract and photographic compositions. Overhead track lighting illuminates the works, while the clean, geometric layout highlights the modernist design aesthetic.

    Installation view of Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine, The Jewish Museum, New York. Photo by: Daniel Salemi

  • Gallery view from Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine. The space features yellow walls and floors with gray accent walls. On the left, a freestanding metal framework displays mounted prints and magazine pages, including covers from Scope and a

    Installation view of Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine, The Jewish Museum, New York. Photo by: Daniel Salemi

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The Jewish Museum · Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine

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The Jewish Museum · Verbal Descriptions of Modern Look: Photography and the American Magazine