"The Human Form Divine: The Body as Seen by the Camera"
2003-02-08 until 2003-06-01
Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL, USA

This exhibition, drawn exclusively from the Art Institute's collection, is of the human body both in motion and at rest. Ever since its invention, photography has shown us human beings from unexpected angles and at surprising moments. The majority of these pictures have been a contribution to the Human Comedy, though occasionally man—and, especially, women—have had a more heroic aspect within the photographic frame. This exhibition explores the range of attitudes and forms that the body has assumed as the ultimate object of beauty in photography.

This exhibition includes approximately 60 photographs spanning a century and a half, most of them gelatin silver, with some albumen prints and Pictorialist work, as well a number of chromogenic color prints. Exploring the range of attitudes and forms that the human body-in motion and at rest-has assumed as the ultimate object of beauty in the photographic medium, the exhibition ranges from street photography by Helen Levitt and portraiture by Richard Avedon, to Adam Fuss's photogram of a wriggling baby and nudes by various artists.

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