Beyond the Frame

This presentation marks the first U.S. solo museum exhibition dedicated to Joanna Piotrowska (b. 1985), a Polish artist based in London whose work examines the human condition through performative acts, photography, and film. Self-defense manuals and psychotherapeutic methods are used as reference points as Piotrowska explores the complex roles that play out in everyday life. The exhibition features large-scale, silver gelatin prints of subjects that probe human behavior and the dynamics of domestic relations, exploring intimacy, violence, control, and self-protection with an emphasis on gesture and touch. Throughout the galleries, the artist creates a space with domestic references from which contrasting image placement and content create an uncanny experience that reveals moments of care as well as hierarchies of power.

The proliferation of Artificial Intelligence in media and art has been embraced by some, feared by others, and has prompted heated discussions in the world of photography. Is a photograph a “real” photograph if it’s made with AI? How much AI is too much? Photography is dead! Photography is having a renaissance! No matter where you fall, the conversation has been loud and hard to avoid. One school of thought likens the current controversy of AI in photography to the historical controversy of photography itself. In the early 19th century photography was a fledgling technology widely rejected by artists of the day, many who feared that photography was a threat and would be the death of painting. At that time, the new technology was seen as purely scientific, all about processes and equipment, and not as a tool to develop a new way of seeing, creating, and expressing an artist’s internal vision. 200 years later, in this early period of the 21st century, the same debates continue in the fine art realm, with consensus merely a daydream. One photographer who has used the latest tools at hand to create works of nuance and narrative, with mystery and memory, is Fran Forman. In the early 1990’s Forman began using Photoshop to push her interest in combining photography and mixed-media. She employed old and new photographs, scanned objects, paintings, and drawings, to create visual narratives untethered to time and place. The more recent incorporation of AI into Forman’s photographic work was a natural progression and has only furthered her ability to express her ethereal and cinematic vision. Using AI as an instrument in her work allows a seamless blending of both Forman’s visual concepts and original images. With the work in Obscure Intentions, Fran Forman takes the best of 21st century technology and effortlessly blends it with her career in photography and design to create what can only be called otherworldly views into history, melancholy, and illusion. – Jessica Burko, Curator, Obscure Intentions “My photo-paintings are constructed scenes that integrate and juxtapose realism with illusion, villains with saints, longing with disconnection, whimsy with reverence. Born of intuition, mood, and inspiration, they are suspended in vibrant fantasies that hint at ambiguities. Adding to my considerable toolbox for creating visual narratives is the revolutionary text-to-image generator. The resulting fantastical images, aligned with my long-term interest in magic realism, are hybrid – not strictly photographic, but suggesting a reality that still is illusive. These images are collaborations – endlessly altered and manipulated – between me, my photographs, my imagination, my hand, and the machines and robots. They are post-photography, intelligent images. I relish the serendipity, and I find that sometimes what lies hidden is a treasure worth revealing.” Between professional life and raising two daughters, Fran Forman continued to create her personal art, combining her illustrative and photographic skills with her fascination with the human psyche. Forman’s photo-paintings are in the permanent collections of the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum (Washington, DC), the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, Grace Museum, Abilene, The Sunnhordland Museum, Norway, the Conner Collection at The University of Texas, and North Down Museum, Northern Ireland and in 2022, she was awarded Top 50 from the prestigious Photo Lucida’s Critical Mass. Forman has mounted many solo exhibitions, including The Fox Talbot Museum, Lacock Abbey, England; BBA Gallery (Berlin); Gauting International Photography (Munich); Massachusetts State House and The Griffin Museum of Photography; AfterImage Gallery (Dallas); University of North Dakota; Galeria Photo/Graphica (Mexico); Sohn Fine Art; OpenShutter (Dorango); and Pucker Gallery (Boston), as well as numerous group shows. She is also the recipient of multiple residencies and awards and her work has been featured in The British Journal of Photography, 1854 Media, Dek Unu, L’Oeil de la Photographie, fStop Magazine, All about Photo, Shadow and Light, and other photo journals. Forman’s second monograph, The Rest Between Two Notes, was published in 2020 and has won an International Photo Award and selected as a best photo-book for 2020 by Elizabeth Avedon and What Will You Remember. Her first book, Escape Artist, 2013, received similar acclaim and awards. She was a Resident Scholar at the Women’s Studies Research Center at Brandeis University for 16 years. She teaches advanced workshops nationally and abroad. Fran Forman is represented by Pucker Gallery (Boston), Afterimage Gallery (Dallas), Susan Spiritus Gallery (Newport Beach, CA), BBA Gallery (Berlin), Photo/Graphica (Mexico).

In fall 2024, the Raclin Murphy will present the first major exhibition in the United States featuring the work of Father Francis Browne, SJ, one of the most intriguing Irish photographers of the twentieth century. The Museum recently acquired this selection of 100 works from the artist’s archive. Born into an affluent family in Cork, Francis Mary Patrick Browne (1880-1960) was the youngest of eight children. By the time he was nine, both of his parents had died, and he became the ward of his uncle, Robert Browne, Bishop of Cloyne. The bishop gave Browne his first camera at his graduation from secondary school at age seventeen. In spring 1912, Browne received the gift of a ticket on the maiden voyage of RMS Titanic. He sailed from Southampton in England, to Cherbourg, France, then to Cobh in County Cork where he disembarked before the ship steamed into the North Atlantic. Following the Titanic disaster, Browne’s photographs of the ship, her passengers and crew, appeared in newspapers and magazines worldwide. Their popularity enticed the Eastman Kodak Company in England to provide him with a continuing supply of film.

Humanity’s impact on the natural landscape is undeniable even when human figures are not immediately visible. This selection of works from the museum’s permanent collection serves as a visual response to the exhibition “Joel Sternfeld: When It Changed.” Artists including Arthur Tress, Robert von Sternberg and Diane Farris illustrate how human enterprise has reshaped the natural landscape. Some works trace the entanglement of human life and environmental change. Others catalogue the environment’s natural processes of self-preservation and renewal. Sternfeld’s photographs focus on the people and diplomatic powers that have shaped the global response to climate change. The artists and works in this companion installation recenter the impacted landscapes and surreal scenes of our changing environments. Image: Konza Prairie after Spring Burning, 1979 © Terry Evans

Robert Mann Gallery is pleased to announce our return to Chelsea, the vibrant art community where we first relocated to in 1999. For the inaugural exhibition in our new gallery space, and in celebration of our 25+ year relationship with artist Jeff Brouws, Robert Mann Gallery is pleased to announce Jeff Brouws: Just About Everything, Someplace Else, on view from October 17 - December 6, 2024. This exhibition will showcase a selection of Brouws’s iconic photographs alongside several previously unseen works. In Just About Everything, Someplace Else, Jeff Brouws brings together images that act as artifacts of history while continuing to speak to themes that resonant today: a sense of abandonment, loneliness, alienation, and the influence of technological change, in essence all suggestive of an American Dream that isn’t quite what it seems. In this show Brouws incorporates photographs from several series including his Ed Ruscha-influenced Language in the the Landscape, the Hopperesque images from the series Approaching Nowhere, and the discarded and franchised elements of our collective commercial environments that pay homage to, and update, the New Topographics. Throughout his career Brouws has created a rich archive with an emphasis on documenting our built environment, a practice that he terms “visual anthropology.” In preserving the remnants of the American landscape he has created a photographic anthology that allows us to see the impact of economic and social forces as they play out, especially across non-urban areas of America. In these images a connecting thread is the highway, a central character and place upon which so much of American life unfolds. Brouws' photographs are included in the permanent collections of The Whitney Museum of American Art, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, The J. Paul Getty Museum, among others. His monographs include Approaching Nowhere (2006), Readymades (2003), Inside the Live Reptile Tent (2001), and Highway: Americaʼs Endless Dream (1998). He is also the co-editor and co-creator of Various Small Books: Referencing Various Small Books by Ed Ruscha (2013, MIT Press). Born in 1955, Brouws lives in Stanfordville, New York.

Notes on Care is a new exhibition of photographs by Rachel Cox from the series Portrait of a Woman. This highly personal body of work chronicles Cox’s experience accessing fertility treatment to start a family. The selection of photographs at the UNM Art Museum “reflects on the action of care,” says Cox, “the various moments that require care, starting with the self, and extending to the care taken to honor an embryo meant for implantation.” Representation is important for Cox; her photographs depict a medical procedure that is rarely observed by the public or depicted in the media, yet over 300,000 people in the United States underwent IVF cycles in 2020 alone, according to the Center for Disease and Control. By making her own body and treatment visible, Cox’s photographs serve as sources of information and comfort.br> “The photographs I make examine personal and cultural stigmas associated with female infertility while also raising awareness for the millions of people who seek to build their families through assisted reproductive technologies (ART),” says Cox.br> “We are at a critical moment in history where birthing people have lost federal protections for the right to decide how and when they will build their families. The lack of fact-based information around reproductive health is widespread and contributes to mass misinformation which infects the social, cultural, and political landscape of this country.” br>

Michelle V. Agins is a Pulitzer Prize-winning photojournalist whose images tell unforgettable stories about life in America. The second Black woman ever hired as a staff photographer at The New York Times, Agins’s groundbreaking assignments offer some of the most important documentation of race relations, celebrity culture, sports, spirituality, and economic disparity in America. Over the course of her five-decade career as a photojournalist, Agins has covered a vast array of news moments, from her early pictures of the protests surrounding the murder of Black teenager, Yusef Hawkins, and the 1992 Democratic National Convention, through more recent images of the Kamala Harris campaign and portraits of Storme DeLarueri, a Stonewall Riots survivor. Agins has captured other iconic figures, such as James Baldwin, Prince, Aretha Franklin, Serena Williams, Anthony Mason, and Anita Hill, among many others. Each photograph demonstrates Agins’s powerful humanizing vision. “Storytelling is the only way I’ve done my work,” Agins said, and “my words are my images.” Her visual storytelling also brings to light the lives of many New Yorkers (some on view here) who have been aided by The New York Times Neediest Cases Fund, now called the Communities Fund. Her series Another America: Life on 129th Street (1994), also on view here, studies the effects of gun violence on a Harlem neighborhood. This museum exhibition, Agins’s first, comprises sixty-eight images taken during her thirty-five years at The New York Times. Organized by Maura Foley, Picture Editor, The New York Times, and Maura Reilly, Director, Zimmerli Art Museum. Image: Michelle V. Agins, James Baldwin introduces his new book "Evidence of Things Not Seen" at the home of Lerone Bennett in Chicago, 1983. © Michelle V. Agins

Yevgenia Belorusets | Oksana Chepelyk | Olia Fedorova | Alena Grom | Zhanna Kadyrova | Alevtina Kakhidze | Dana Kavelina | Lesia Khomenko | Vlada Ralko | Anna Scherbyna | Kateryna Yermolaeva | Alla Horska (1929–70) | curated by Monika Fabijanska Women at War features works by a selection of the leading contemporary women artists working in Ukraine, and provides context for the current war, as represented in art across media. Several works in the exhibition were made immediately following February 24, 2022, when Russia began the full-scale invasion of Ukraine; others date from the ten years of war following the annexation of Crimea and the creation of separatist Donetsk and Luhansk “People's Republics” in Donbas in 2014. War is central to history. History has been written (and painted) by men. This exhibition provides a platform for women narrators of history and also examines gendered perspectives of war. Women are generally absent from the historical accounts of war, but violating a woman is seen as a violation of land and nation. Media images reinforce the perception of gender divide. But is war indeed gendered? Women comprise c. 25% of the Ukrainian armed forces. Russian soldiers rape Ukrainian civilians of all and no genders, including adult men. Yet, the majority’s experience remains tied to the traditional gender roles. Many artists in this exhibition struggle with the notion of victimhood and pose the question in what way women have agency during war. The exhibition also offers an insight into Ukrainian and other Eastern European feminisms, which are significantly different from the Western mold. It contributes to the discourse about how national identity is tied to the perception of women’s role in society. There are parallels between the fight for Ukraine’s independence and the fight for the equality of Ukrainian women. They stem from the paradoxes of the Soviet Union, where early modernist, anti-nationalist, and feminist promises became but a fig leaf of propaganda for the increasingly brutal and misogynist patriarchal regime. An independent Ukraine, burdened with its colonial past, the unimaginable wounds of the 20th century (the Holodomor, two world wars, and the Holocaust), and the actuality of a crisis, became obsessed with history. Ukrainian art of the 2010s was largely focused on the discussion of whether national identity should draw directly upon the short period of pre-Soviet independence or include the legacy of the Ukrainian SSR. The new generation of artists turned their attention to historiography – how history is written, who writes it, who and what remains invisible. Soviet painting, especially the interpretations of WWII, came into focus for many. Others organized around the critique of decommunization – the destruction of Soviet monuments and mosaics in Donbas spearheaded by the post-Maidan government – and turned towards the blanked-out pages of history. Image: © Alena Grom

In the world of entertainment, the performers we adore often exist as larger-than-life figures, their identities shaped by the roles they play and the moments they share with us. The Eyes of the Audience: Performers Seen Behind the Lens invites viewers to step into the intimate space between the audience and the artists, exploring the profound connections that bridge the gap between the stage and the spectator. “Fame has been with us for quite some time, but celebrity was a nineteenth-century invention,” as Vicki Goldberg aptly notes. This sentiment echoes through the powerful imagery of iconic photographers such as Lawrence Schiller, Terry O’Neill, Barbara Morgan, Harry Benson, Roy Schatt, Douglas Kirkland, and Norman Seeff. Their photographs capture the essence of the performers who have transformed our cultural landscape—actors, musicians, dancers, and athletes—freezing moments that resonate with our collective memory. This exhibition celebrates the photographers who have expertly chronicled these performers, offering glimpses into the lives of cultural icons such as Marilyn Monroe, David Bowie, and Muhammad Ali. Each image captures a moment in time, allowing us to revisit the electric energy and creativity of these larger-than-life figures. The photographers featured here have used their artistry to transform fleeting moments into enduring legacies, highlighting the intricate relationship between performer and audience. In the spirit of Barbara Morgan, whose iconic dance photography immortalized the movements of stars like Martha Graham, this exhibition showcases how photography conveys the emotions and dynamics of performance. Morgan famously stated that “form and content meet in action,” a sentiment echoed in the work of contemporary photographers like Douglas Kirkland and Norman Seeff, who capture the essence of their subjects through spontaneous interactions and intimate moments. As we navigate through the exhibition, the cultural narratives woven into each photograph evoke feelings of nostalgia, longing, and admiration, prompting reflection on our personal connections to these performers and their art. The energy captured by the photographers transforms into a resonance that reflects the impact these entertainers have had on our lives—the soundtracks to our memories, the dialogues of our dreams, and the shared moments of cultural significance. The interplay of stillness and motion, of the personal and the universal, creates a dialogue that transcends time. Each photograph serves as a testament to the artistry of both the performers and the photographers, illuminating the beauty of their collaboration. Through these images, the audience becomes part of a shared experience that celebrates the magic of performance art. The Eyes of the Audience serves as a testament to the artistry involved in both performance and photography, resonating as documentation and dialogue between the past and present, celebrating the enduring influence of performers on our collective cultural narrative. Image: Arthur Miller and Marilyn Monroe on the set of “The Misfits” © Eve Arnold

Life’s finest moments often emerge in the spaces between obligations—where joy, relaxation, and beauty naturally unfold. Whether through quiet reflection, playful escape, or shared celebration, these experiences remind us to savor the present. The Good Life: Experiencing Leisure, Joy & Luxury captures the essence of these fleeting, meaningful moments. The exhibition features the works of Slim Aarons, Rodney Smith, and William Helburn, three photographers whose images embody levity, pleasure, and elegance. Through their distinct visions, The Good Life offers an invitation to embrace life’s finest experiences. These works celebrate joy, luxury, and lightness—not as extravagances, but as moments that enrich our everyday existence. The photographs on display go beyond simple documentation; they breathe life into the present, inviting us into a world of unencumbered joy and indulgence. Whether capturing refined leisure or whimsical elegance, these images transcend time to evoke emotions that resonate today. Each frame holds a fragment of freedom, exuberance, or nostalgia—reminding us that even the simplest pleasures can carry a timeless allure. Slim Aarons (1916–2006) dedicated his career to capturing the lives of the rich and glamorous. Known for striking images of high society at leisure—whether by the pool in Palm Springs or on the slopes of Gstaad—Aarons embodied his philosophy of “photographing attractive people doing attractive things in attractive places.” His photographs immortalize leisurely pursuits against stunning backdrops of luxurious estates and sun-drenched beaches, revealing a visual archive of mid-20th-century elegance and opulence. Beginning his career as a combat photographer during World War II, Aarons transitioned to society photography post-war, establishing a signature style marked by vibrant colors and natural light. His influential body of work has graced major publications like *Life* and *Harper’s Bazaar* and continues to inspire artists and designers, reflecting the complex narratives of identity and privilege that define his legacy. Rodney Smith (1947–2016) was a prominent fashion and portrait photographer whose whimsical black-and-white imagery evokes the surrealism of René Magritte. Known for his un-retouched, dreamlike compositions, Smith masterfully balanced elegance and humor, creating enchanted worlds filled with playful surprises. His photographs reflect a keen understanding of light and composition, inviting viewers into a realm where joy and optimism reign. With a career spanning over 45 years, Smith’s work continues to inspire and captivate, celebrating the beauty of life through his unique artistic vision. William Helburn (1924-2020) was a pioneering figure in fashion and advertising photography, whose work epitomizes the creative revolution of the 1950s and 1960s. His innovative approach to visual storytelling transformed how fashion was portrayed, blending elegance with an unexpected sense of humor and whimsy. Helburn’s photographs not only captured the era’s most iconic models, such as Dovima and Sharon Tate, but also illustrated the vibrant spirit of postwar America. By pushing the boundaries of traditional studio settings and utilizing urban environments as backdrops, he created dynamic compositions that resonated with the youthful optimism of the time. His distinctive aesthetic—marked by bold colors and striking contrasts—mirrors the exhibition’s theme of redefining identity and exploring the interplay between fashion, culture, and societal norms. Helburn’s legacy as a master of both technique and vision continues to influence contemporary photography, making his work a vital part of this narrative. Together, the works of Aarons, Smith, and Helburn invite us to experience The Good Life—a celebration of life’s finer moments, where joy, beauty, and elegance intertwine. This exhibition reminds us that sometimes, the simplest pleasures are the most meaningful and luxurious of all. Image: Palm Beach Idyll © Slim Aarons

Only eight miles away from Long Island’s south shore, but a world apart from Long Island’s suburbia. This barrier island seashore offers residents and visitors the freedom to express themselves, both personally and artistically. It has offered a warm-weather respite to Long Islanders and New Yorkers for more than a century, with ferry service beginning in the mid-19th century, soon after the first hotels were built. The Hamlets of Cherry Grove and Fire Island Pines have provided LGBTQ+ New Yorkers the freedom to express themselves since the mid-20th century, and these communities have been celebrated worldwide as a place of acceptance, drawing artists seeking inspiration. Featuring works by Paul Cadmus, Meryl Meisler, John Laub, Joanne Mulberg, TM Davy, Doron Langberg, Louis Fratino, and more.

Traces of the Manifest encompasses photographs, ephemera and video made by Victoria Sambunaris between 2015 and 2023. The exhibition uncovers new meanings and alternative perceptions beyond Sambunaris’ well-known or customary large-scale murals of American landscape which examine the external imprint from deep time to human time. By showing artifacts, found objects and photographs this exhibition reveals the working method, perceptions, intimacies and even unconscious views that are part of the essential and incidental elements of Sambunaris’ work as a photographer and explorer. Photographs from the Texas Gulf Coast to the desert regions of southern California reveal three dimensions of the animating forces behind Sambunaris’ larger concerns: the impact of industrial sites, geological forces and human traces found in landscape today. The intimate scale of this exhibition has given Sambunaris the opportunity to include journals, road logs, gifts, mineral collections, books, and snapshot documentation to reveal a personal story of her time on the road.