Milwaukee Art Museum exhibit explores
crucial time in American photography

THE MILWAUKEE ART MUSEUM again breaks new ground this month with the first major examination of 1940s and ‘50s street photography in the last 20 years.

Street Seen: New Visions in American Photography 1940-1959, which showcases a time when the photographic medium and American society were both at cultural crossroads, opened Jan. 30 and continues at the Museum through April 25.

“The essence of the images captured in Street Seen suggest some compelling parallels to today’s society, in terms of how we struggle to carve out our place in an increasingly anonymous world,” says Lisa Hostetler, curator of photographs at the Museum. “The photographs have a universal quality that transcends time and place and tell a human story. Many of the images capture scenes that could just as easily be present day Milwaukee as post World War II New York City.”

The exhibition includes more than 100 photographs, mostly black and white, that stand out on the white walls of the Baker/Rowland Galleries in the Museum’s Calatrava addition. Among the highlights are Lisette Model’s look at the cacophony of the urban environment; Louis Faurer’s empathetic portraits of eccentrics in Times Square; Ted Croner’s haunting night images; Saul Leiter’s glimpses of elusive moments; William Klein’s graphic, confrontational work and Robert Frank’s documentation of American ideals gone awry.

Also included are work by Robert Capa, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Walker Evans, W. Eugene Smith, Helen Levitt and Wegee, demonstrating how the photographers were influenced by documentary photography and photojournalism, but ultimately differed from their predecessors and contemporaries.

Street Seen uncovers a crucial time in American art, when global media was in its adolescence and photography was just beginning to achieve recognition in the contemporary art world. It refutes the common claim that photojournalism was the only significant photographic activity at the time.

“Abstract Expressionism, film noir and Beat poetry are all widely recognized aftershocks of World War II, but the significance of creative photography during that time has been largely ignored,” explains Hostetler. “However, the way in which the images in Street Seen evoke strong emotion, in a subtle and unsentimental way, makes this exhibition undeniably appealing on a human, universal level.”

Street Seen also includes paintings and drawings by Jackson Pollock, Willem de Kooning, Richard Pousette-Dart and Franz Kline, demonstrating the correspondence in sensibility and approach between painters and photographers of the time. In addition, several films will accompany the exhibition, including William Klein’s first film, Broadway by Light (1958) and the premier of Louis Faurer’s Time Capsule (1940s-‘60s), which was recently discovered and has never been shown to the public.

Well before the exhibition opened, it was recognized by the New York Times’ culture blog. Major support for Street Seen comes from the Richard and Ethel Herzfeld Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, and MetLife Foundation.

The Milwaukee Art Museum is open from 10 a.m.-5 p.m. Tues.-Sun., with extended hours until 8 p.m. on Thursdays. The general admission charge of $12 for adults and $10 for students over 12, seniors and active military includes special exhibitions. Visit www.mam.org for additional details and special events relating to Street Seen.

Exhibition photos, from left, are Halloween, 1959, by Saul Leiter; gelatin silver print from The Art Institute of Chicago and Mary and Leigh Block Endowment; Running Legs, New York, 1943, by Lisette Model, from International Center of Photography, gift of Lisette Model Foundation in memory of Joseph G. Blum and used by permission; and Accident, New York City, 1952, by Louis Faurer; gelatin silver print, printed late 1970s, Deborah Bell Photographs, New York, © Mark Faurer.