"Street Credibility: Photographs from the 1940s to the 1970s"
2004-01-28 until 2004-09-13
Museum of Contemporary Art, LA
Los Angeles, CA, USA

Featuring 100 photographs from the 1940s to the 1970s by Diane Arbus, her influences, her peers, and the artists who were inspired by her vision, Street Credibility examines the period of contemporary photography when the boundary between what was real and what was artificially created became increasingly blurred.

Focusing on the similarity of this generation's subjects and approaches, the exhibition is organized around visual tropes, such as people inside their homes, the equation of individuals with their possessions, couples, entertainers, and spectacles. Included is the work of Larry Clark, Robert Frank, Lee Friedlander, Charles Gatewood, Les Krims, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Bill Owens, Jeffrey Silverthorne, and Garry Winogrand, as well as a selection of work by Arbus's predecessors, including Lisette Model, August Sander, and Weegee. The exhibition will also include photographs by commercial photographer Theo Ehret who was the house photographer for the Olympic Auditorium in Los Angeles. In addition to documenting professional wrestling, Ehret shot erotic female "apartment wrestling" photographs that were staged in domestic sets constructed in his studio. Ehret's inclusion in the exhibition is meant to draw attention to the staged-looking quality of many of this generation's photographs. The exhibition draws primarily upon MOCA's permanent collection with a selection of works from local institutions and artists.

IMAGE
Danny Lyon
Sparky and Cowboy (Gary Rogues),
Schererville, Indiana
ca 1960's
Gelatin silver print
11 x 14 in
The Ralph M. Parsons Foundation Photography Collection
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles

Related Links:

Indepth Arts Resources for the State of California

Other Important Exhibitions in Los Angeles