According to Linda Benedict-Jones, the museum’s curator of photography, “Yours Truly takes us back to another time. Some of the works are iconic and will be immediately recognizable to our visitors. Others are virtually unknown yet breathtaking in their intensely romantic aura.” Whether revealing lovers’ intimate embraces, the sensuality of the female form, the tactile pleasures of the natural world, or the deep bond between family members, Yours Truly’s emotional appeal is as deep as its aesthetic pleasures. A warm and intimate gallery environment, designed especially for the show, envelops visitors in these images.
Lynn Zelevansky, Director Carnegie Museum of Art "Photography is only 174 years old, yet its rich history is well documented and its criteria for excellence well defined, especially in regard to historical work. In the beginning, it was difficult for many to assess the artistic importance of photographs because—mechanically produced and able to be endlessly copied—they were antithetical to the established values for painting. Today, however, the field has its share of canonical artists, and works by them are coveted. Photographic technique has been defined in terms of framing, camera handling, and print quality. Often created by the photographer—especially before the advent of digital photography—prints, which can be darker or lighter, with more or less contrast, are a means of interpreting an image, greatly impacting its meaning. For collectors, the pedigree of a photographic print is also crucial to a work’s value. Most desired are “vintage prints,” produced more or less at the same time as the negative is shot. We are extremely fortunate to be able to present, in these galleries, some of the finest vintage photographic prints by some of the most admired photographers in the history of the medium. Together they comprise a meditation on the nature of love in its many forms.
Robert Frank
American, b. Switzerland 1924
Paris 1949 New Year, 1949
gelatin silver print
Private collection
Paris 1949 New Year is a small, unpretentious black-and-white photograph that opens Carnegie Museum of Art’s current exhibition Yours Truly: Privately Collected Photographs. A young man in an overcoat, stopped on a busy street, back to the camera, hides a tulip behind him. He is large in the vertical picture frame. A passerby, walking toward us, searches a small purse for some coins; together they occupy the bulk of the image. Tulips must have been rare in January 1949, so the flower was probably a surprise for someone special. Who? Further looking reveals, over the man’s shoulder, a pretty blonde waiting in the distance. This is an early work by Swiss national Robert Frank who, in the following decade, would immigrate to the United States and redefine the aesthetics of 35 mm photography.
Small black-and-white images like Paris 1949 are condensed like poems. You can get a sense—a hit, really—of their meaning by scanning them once, but only careful viewing yields a full appreciation of their significance. In the hands of masters of the 35 mm camera like Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, and Garry Winogrand, there can be an amazing rhyming of forms—one person’s gesture magically echoing or playing off another’s although they are disconnected, maybe even separated in a crowd. You can see their work in Yours Truly."
Other Photographs on Display:
Cecil Walter Hardy Beaton
British, 1904–1980
Baba Beaton, Wanda Baille-Hamilton, Lady Bridget Poulett, c. 1920
gelatin silver print
Henri Cartier-Bresson
French, 1908–2004
Le Jardin des Plantes, Paris, France, 1966
gelatin silver print
C. Henri Cartier-Bresson/Magnum Photos
Alfred Eisenstaedt
American, b. Germany, 1898–1995
Soldier Giving His Girlfriend a Smothering Kiss Goodbye at Pennsylvania Station before
Returning to Duty after a Brief Furlough, New York, c. 1944
gelatin silver print
Charles Nègre, French, 1820–1880;
Sculptures de Tuileries, Borée enlevant Orythie de Flamen et Marsy (Sculptures in the Tuileries Gardens, Boree Capturing
Imogen Cunningham
American, 1883–1976
Magnolia Blossom, 1925
Berenice Abbott
American, 1898–1991
General View from the
Penthouse at 56 7th Avenue,
1937
gelatin silver print
2 Danny Lyon
American, b. 1942
Uptown (Young Couple), 1965
gelatin silver print
3 Herb Ritts
American, 1952–2002
Fred and Tatjana 3, Guadalupe,
1988
gelatin silver print
4 Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Finnish, b. 1945
Self_Portrait with Maija_Karina—
SysmaÅN, Finland, 1992
gelatin silver print
5 Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Finnish, b. 1945
Laurence, Ta ‘Cenc, Gozo,
Malta, 2002
gelatin silver print
6 Arno Rafael Minkkinen
Finnish, b. 1945
Fosters Swan, Fosters Pond, 1994
gelatin silver print
7 Helen Levitt
American, 1913–2009
New York, c. 1942
gelatin silver print
8 Nicholas Nixon
American, b. 1947
Hyde Park Ave., Boston, 1982
gelatin silver print
9 Joseph Szabo
American, b. 1944
Jessie at Jones Beach, 1983
gelatin silver print
10 Bruce Davidson
American, b. 1933
Brooklyn Gang (Girl Combing
Hair by Cigarette Machine),
1959
gelatin silver print
11 Garry Winogrand
American, 1928–1984
Whelan’s Drugstore in Times
Square, New York, 1966, 1966
gelatin silver print
12 Robert Frank
American, b. Switzerland 1924
Coney Island, 1955
gelatin silver print
13 Fred Stein
American, b. Germany, 1909–1967
Coney Island, 1946
gelatin silver print
14 Henri Cartier_Bresson
French, 1908–2004
Brie, France, 1968
gelatin silver print
15 Rosalind Solomon
American, b. 1930
Mother and Daughter,
Brighton Beach, New York, 1985
gelatin silver print
17 Lee Friedlander
American, b. 1934
Knoxville, Tennessee, 1971
gelatin silver print
18 Leon Levinstein
American, 1910–1988
Excursion Boat, c. 1955
gelatin silver print
19 Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
American, b. Poland, 1899–1968
3D Couple Kissing, c. 1955
gelatin silver print
20 Garry Winogrand
American, 1928–1984
Staten Island Ferry, 1975
gelatin silver print
21 Garry Winogrand
American, 1928–1984
Central Park Zoo, New York,
c. 1963
gelatin silver print
22 Garry Winogrand
American, 1928–1984
New York, c. 1970
gelatin silver print
23 Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
American, b. Poland, 1899–1968
Concert, Greenwich Village,
1940–1943
gelatin silver print
24 Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
Le baiser de l’ho^tel de ville
(Kiss by the Ho^tel de Ville), 1950
gelatin silver print
25 Clarence John Laughlin
American, 1905–1985
Visionary Bride #1, 1951
gelatin silver print
26 O. Winston Link
American, 1914–2001
The Popes and the Last Steam-
Powered Passenger Train, Max
Meadows, Virginia, 1957
gelatin silver print
27 O. Winston Link
American, 1914–2001
Hotshot Eastbound, Drive-in,
with Image on Screen, c. 1955
gelatin silver print
28 Clarence John Laughlin
American, 1905–1985
Nostalgic Head #2, 1941
gelatin silver print
29 Elliott Erwitt
American, b. 1928
Los Angeles, 1955, 1955
gelatin silver print
30 Lillian Bassman
American, 1917–2012
Harper’s Bazaar, c. 1950
gelatin silver print
31 Lillian Bassman
American, 1917–2012
Margy Cato, Harper’s Bazaar,
c. 1947
gelatin silver print
32 William Klein
American, b. 1928
Mirror on Broadway, New York,
1961
gelatin silver print
33 Lillian Bassman
American, 1917–2012
Lisa Fonssagrives, Harper’s
Bazaar, c. 1959
gelatin silver print
34 Lillian Bassman
American, 1917–2012
Harper’s Bazaar, c. 1950
gelatin silver print
35 Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
Baiser, passage Versailles, Paris
(Kiss, Versailles Passageway),
c. 1950
gelatin silver print
36 Alfred Eisenstaedt
American, b. Germany, 1898–1995
College Students Brooks Conrad
and Merrilyn Olsen Kissing
Goodnight, Madison, Wisconsin,
1939
gelatin silver print
37 Arthur Leipzig
American, b. 1918
Love on a Bus, 1949
gelatin silver print
38 Gjon Mili
American, b. Albania, 1904–1984
Multiple Exposures of Julie
Bishop and Humphrey Bogart,
c. 1942
gelatin silver print
39 Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
Les lilas de MeÅLnilmontant
(Lilacs of MeÅLnilmontant), 1956
gelatin silver print
40 Édouard Boubat
French, 1923–1999
Leila, Bretagne, 1947
gelatin silver print
41 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
French, b. Hungary, 1899–1984
Ronde de jeunes filles
(Circle of Young Girls), c. 1950
gelatin silver print
42 Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
Le mane`ge de Monsieur BarreÅL
(Mr. Barre’s Carousel), 1955
gelatin silver print
43 Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
La dernie`re valse du 14 juillet
(The Last Waltz on Bastille
Day), c. 1950
gelatin silver print
44 Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
American, b. Poland, 1899–1968
The Kiss, c. 1940
gelatin silver print
45 Helen Levitt
American, 1913–2009
New York, c. 1942
gelatin silver print
46 Weegee (Arthur Fellig)
American, b. Poland, 1899–1968
Summer, the Lower East Side,
c. 1937
gelatin silver print
47 Robert Doisneau
French, 1912–1994
Au CafeÅL Frasse, 1958
gelatin silver print
49 Alfred Eisenstaedt
American, b. Germany, 1898–1995
Soldier Giving His Girlfriend a
Smothering Kiss Goodbye at
Pennsylvania Station before
Returning to Duty after a Brief
Furlough, New York, c. 1944
gelatin silver print
50 Berenice Abbott
American, 1898–1991
New York Looking East, 1936
gelatin silver print
51 Alfred Eisenstaedt
American, b. Germany, 1898–1995
Marine Pvt. V. Feldman
Tenderly Kissing His Girlfriend
Goodbye at Penn Station before
Returning to Duty, New York,
c. 1944
gelatin silver print
52 Berenice Abbott
American, 1898–1991
“EL” 2nd and 3rd Avenue
at Hanover Square, 1936
gelatin silver print
54 Berenice Abbott
American, 1898–1991
City Arabesque, Manhattan,
1938
gelatin silver print
55 George Hoyningen_Huene
Russian, 1900–1968
Bathing Suits by Izod, Ltd.,
Horst and Model on Roof, Paris,
1930, 1930
gelatin silver print
56 Bill Brandt
British, b. Germany, 1904–1983
Northumbria Miner at Evening
Meal, 1937
gelatin silver print
57 Elliott Erwitt
American, b. 1928
San Francisco, c. 1950
gelatin silver print
58 Bill Brandt
British, b. Germany, 1904–1983
Parlormaid and Underparlormaid
Ready to Serve Dinner, 1933
gelatin silver print
59 André Kertész
American, b. Hungary, 1896–1985
Untitled, c. 1920
gelatin silver print
62 László Moholy_Nagy
American, b. Hungary, 1895–1946
Ellen Frank, c. 1928
gelatin silver print
63 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
French, b. Hungary, 1899–1984
Le couple d’amoureux a` Paris
(Amorous Couple in Paris),
c. 1932
gelatin silver print
64 Rudolf Koppitz
Austrian, 1884–1936
Doppelakt, 1925
gelatin silver print
65 Charles Aubry
French, 1811–1877
Bouquet, c. 1864
albumen print
66 Clarence H. White
American, 1871–1925
The Kiss, 1904
platinum print
67 Eugène Atget
French, 1857–1927
Versailles, Maison Close,
Petite Place, 1921
gelatin silver print
68 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
French, b. Hungary, 1899–1984
Le Pont de Coronsel Canal,
c. 1932
gelatin silver print
69 Edward Steichen
American, 1879–1973
Untitled (Double Sunflower),
c. 1921
gelatin silver print
70 Man Ray
American, 1890–1976
Dora Maar, c. 1936
gelatin silver print
71 Henri Cartier_Bresson
French, 1908–2004
Lovers on a Beach,
Dieppe, France, c. 1930
gelatin silver print
72 Eugène Atget
French, 1857–1927
Notre Dame (Vue du Quai de
la Tournelle), 1923
arrowroot albumen print
74 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
French, b. Hungary, 1899–1984
Couple allongeÅL dans une
“maison d’illusion” (Supine
Couple in a “House of Illusion”),
c. 1932
gelatin silver print
75 Alfred Stieglitz
American, 1864–1946
Portrait of Dorothy Norman, 1932
gelatin silver print
76 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
French, b. Hungary, 1899–1984
Le baiser (The Kiss), 1933
gelatin silver print
77 Julia Margaret Cameron
British, b. India, 1815–1879
Cupid Escaped from His
Mother, Daisy Taylor, 1873
albumen print
78 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
French, b. Hungary, 1899–1984
Nuits de Longchamps (Nights at
Longchamps), 1937
gelatin silver print
79 Brassaï (Gyula Halász)
French, b. Hungary, 1899–1984
Night at Longchamps, c. 1936
gelatin silver print
80 New York Times Co.
New York Times, December 1, 2012,
Front Page, 2012
newspaper (photograph by Brennan
Linsley)
