El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye: Nine
Mexican Women Photographers
-- At the Mishkin Gallery, Feb. 9 to March 10, 2005 --
Three
generations of Mexican women photographers— mentors,
friends, colleagues— all of them artists of great individuality
and passion—will be on view in El ojo fino/The Exquisite
Eye at the Mishkin Gallery, Wednesday, February 9 through
Thursday, March 10, 2005.
The extraordinary work of these artists reflects the varied
landscapes and indigenous peoples of Mexico. Not all of these
photographers were born in Mexico, but all fell under its
unique spell. In Mexico “everything fascinates me and
stimulates me,” wrote Mariana Yampolsky (1925-2002),
who became the first female member of the influential Taller
de Grafica Popular (Popular Graphic Arts Workshop). Whether
they opted for the documentary style, for individual portraits
or staged images, the work of these photographers combines
raw power with the telling detail that can only be perceived
by “the exquisite eye.”
All the women whose work appears in this exhibition were independent
self-supporting artists. In this, they followed the example
and the spirit of Lola Alvarez Bravo (1905-1993), the undaunted
pioneer of Mexican women photographers. Lola and her husband
Manuel were intimately involved in the Mexican cultural renaissance
of the 1920s and ’30s; she was part of a circle of friends
and colleagues that included Diego Rivera, Frida Kahlo, David
Alfaro Siqueiros and Jose Clemente Orozco. Though Lola Alvarez
began her career as an assistant to her photographer husband,
she soon struck out on her own. “After her example,
women dared to paint, to write, to act, to take their destiny
in their own hands,” notes Elena Poniatowska, who contributes
a catalogue essay for this exhibition.
El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye is curated by Connie
Todd, curator of the Wittliff Gallery of Southwestern and
Mexican Photography at Texas State University in San Marcos.
The exhibition is organized by the Wittliff Gallery and toured
by ExhibitsUSA, which is a national division of Mid-America
Arts Alliance, a private, nonprofit organization founded in
1972. El ojo fino/The Exquisite Eye is made possible
by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
The nine women whose work is represented in this exhibition
of 49 black-and-white photographs combine social realities—harsh,
mysterious, often beautiful—with personal vision. Their
chosen subjects range from the 1994 Zapatista uprising in
Chiapas to street urchins and prostitutes of Mexico City.
In rural settings, the solitude and desolation of the landscape
often reflects the condition of the people. The flowers, religious
shrines and vernacular architecture of the Mexican countryside
also appear as an abiding influence. Collectively, the photos
bespeak a remarkable visual eloquence.
The Sidney Mishkin Gallery regularly presents small, museum-quality
exhibitions that highlight innovative scholarship, significant
artists and multicultural perspectives. The Mishkin Gallery
is located at Baruch College, 135 E. 22nd Street, New York
City. Gallery hours are Monday-Friday, noon to 5 pm;
Thursday, noon to 7 pm.
ExhibitsUSA is generously supported by
Altria Group, Inc.: The Brown Foundation, Inc.; James H. Clement
Jr.; ConocoPhillips; the Cooper Education Foundation;; Maureen
and Robert Decherd; Douglas County Bank/Ross and Marianna
Beach; DST Systems, Inc.; The Don and Sybil Harrington Foundation;
Houston Endowment, Inc.; the Institute of Museum and Library
Services; Edward Jones; the Helen Jones Foundation; the William
T. Kempner foundation, Commerce Bank trustee; the Richard
P. Kimmel and Laurine Kimmel Charitable Foundation, Inc.;
the Meadows Foundation; the National Endowment for the Arts;
the National Endowment for the Humanities; the Courtney S.
Turner Charitable Trust; The Winthrop Rockefeller Foundation;
the Woods Charitable Fund; and the state agencies of Arkansas,
Kansas, Illinois, Missouri, Nebraska, Oklahoma, and Texas.
Contact:
Zane Berzins, News Manager
(212) 802-2881
Sandra Kraskin, Mishkin Gallery
(212) 802-2690
