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John Foster | Accidental Mysteries

Garry Winogrand Retrospective At National Gallery

American Photographer Garry Winogrand Retrospective
on View at National Gallery of Art, Washington
March 2 Through June 8, 2014

One of my favorite street photographers, Garry Winogrand (1928 - 1984) will receive his first retrospective in 25 years at The National Gallery of Art, Washington, March 2 through June 8, 2014. Revealing the full breadth of his art for the first time, Garry Winogrand brings together some 190 of the artist’s most iconic images — many never before exhibited or reproduced.

“Winogrand is widely recognized as one of the preeminent photographers of postwar America, though his work remains largely unexplored and incompletely published,” said Earl A. Powell III. “Building on several recent exhibitions of 20th-century American photographers, such as Robert Frank and Harry Callahan, the Gallery is proud to present another major American photographer to our visitors.”

Although Winogrand was a prolific photographer throughout his career, he largely postponed printing and editing his work, especially at the end of his life. He published five books, but they contain only a fraction of his oeuvre. When he died suddenly at age 56, Winogrand left behind thousands of rolls of exposed but undeveloped film and unedited contact sheets — some 250,000 frames in total. Many of these pictures have been printed for the first time for this long-awaited retrospective of his work. By presenting such archival discoveries alongside celebrated pictures, Garry Winogrand reframes a career that was, like the artist’s America, both epic and unresolved. 

The exhibition is divided into three sections over seven galleries, each presenting a broad variety of subjects found in Winogrand’s art. “Down from the Bronx” presents photographs taken in New York City from his start in 1950 to 1971; “A Student of America” looks at work made in the same period during journeys outside New York; and “Boom and Bust” addresses Winogrand’s late period — from 1971, when he moved away from New York, to his death in 1984 — including photographs from Texas and Southern California, as well as Chicago, Washington, and Miami. The third section also presents a small number of Manhattan photographs made during Winogrand’s return visits; like much of his later work, they express a sense of desolation unprecedented in his earlier photographs.

The exhibition was on view at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art (SFMOMA) from March 9 through June 2, 2013. After Washington, the exhibition will travel to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York (June 27 through September 21, 2014); the Jeu de Paume, Paris (October 14, 2014, through January 25, 2015); and the Fundación MAPFRE, Madrid (March 3 through May 10, 2015).

Garry Winogrand has been conceived and guest-curated by the photographer and author Leo Rubinfien, who was among the youngest of Winogrand’s circle of friends in the 1970s. As initiating curator, Rubinfien worked closely on the project with Sarah Greenough, senior curator of the department of photographs at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and Erin O’Toole, associate curator of photography at SFMOMA. New curatorial research undertaken for this project has enabled the first thorough review of the prints and proof sheets from Winogrand’s complete working life.


Garry Winogrand
New York, 1950
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
Fractional and promised gift of Carla Emil and Rich Silverstein
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Coney Island, New York, c. 1952
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase and gift of Barbara Schwartz in memory of Eugene M. Schwartz.
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco; digital image © The Museum of Modern Art/ Licensed by SCALA / Art Resource, NY


Garry Winogrand
Park Avenue, New York, 1959
gelatin silver print
overall: 32.7 x 21.7 cm (12 7/8 x 8 9/16 in.)
Patrons' Permanent Fund
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Metropolitan Opera, New York City, c. 1951
gelatin silver print
framed: 45.72 55.88 cm (18 22 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
New York, c. 1960
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
New York, 1961
gelatin silver print
framed: 50.8 40.64 cm (20 16 in.)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase and gift of Barbara Schwartz in memory of Eugene M. Schwartz.
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Richard Nixon Campaign Rally, New York, 1960
gelatin silver print
framed: 45.72 55.88 cm (18 22 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
New York World's Fair, 1964
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Dr. L.F. Peede, Jr.
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Girl in Elevator, 1968
gelatin silver print
image: 33.3 x 22.3 cm (13 1/8 x 8 3/4 in.)
sheet: 35.3 x 28 cm (13 7/8 x 11 in.)
Patrons' Permanent Fund


Garry Winogrand
New York, 1968
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Dr. L.F. Peede, Jr.
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
New York, c. 1962
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
John F. Kennedy International Airport, New York, 1968
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
Collection of John and Lisa Pritzker
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
New York, 1969
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
Collection of Jeffrey Fraenkel and Alan Mark
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
New York, c. 1969
gelatin silver print
framed: 45.72 55.88 cm (18 22 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1958 [1957?]
gelatin silver print
overall: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
The Museum of Modern Art, New York. Purchase
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Los Angeles, 1964
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Gift of Jeffrey Fraenkel
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Democratic National Convention, Los Angeles, 1960
gelatin silver print
framed: 45.72 55.88 cm (18 22 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Los Angeles Airport, 1964
gelatin silver print
image: 32.9 x 22.1 cm (12 15/16 x 8 11/16 in.)
sheet: 35.4 x 27.8 cm (13 15/16 x 10 15/16 in.)
Patrons' Permanent Fund


Garry Winogrand
Las Vegas, 1957
gelatin silver print
image: 22.7 x 33.2 cm (8 15/16 x 13 1/16 in.)
Gift of George and Alexandra Stephanopoulos


Garry Winogrand
Fort Worth, Texas, 1974
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Accessions Committee Fund: gift of Doris and Donald Fisher, and Marion E. Greene
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Fort Worth, 1974-1977
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Los Angeles, 1980-1983
gelatin silver print
framed: 40.64 50.8 cm (16 20 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Los Angeles, 1983
gelatin silver print
framed: 45.72 55.88 cm (18 22 in.)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco


Garry Winogrand
Los Angeles, 1980-1983
gelatin silver print
Image: 26.6 x 39.5 cm (10 x 15 9/16 inches)
Paper: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 inches)
Garry Winogrand Archive, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona
© The Estate of Garry Winogrand, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

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