An exhibition featuring more than 80 original photographs from Duke University library collections, many of them on view for the first time, will be presented by the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke from July 2-Oct. 18.
The exhibition, "Beyond Beauty: Photographs from the Duke University Special Collections Library," traces the evolution of the photographic process from daguerreotypes, ambrotypes, tintypes, albumen prints and gelatin silver prints, to the most recent examples of digital printing. Historic photographs by Eugène Atget, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Julia Margaret Cameron, Alfred Stieglitz and others will be on view. The exhibition also features works by 36 contemporary documentary photographers, many of whom have agreed to give their entire body of work to Duke's Archive of Documentary Arts at the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library.
"These exciting photographs are highlights from a collection that is rare in terms of its beauty and breadth," said Kimerly Rorschach, Mary D.B.T. and James H. Semans Director of the Nasher Museum. "I hope visitors will delight in these iconic works that reveal the human experience, both past and present."
"Beyond Beauty" includes 19th century photography from Mathew Brady's 1863 image of "General Grant on Lookout Mountain"; work by Western expeditionary photographers Timothy O'Sullivan and John Hillers; and Peter Henry Emerson's platinum print "Towing the Reed" that documents life in the English countryside.
Early 20th century photographs by Doris Ulmann and Lewis Hine depict rural life in Kentucky, Mississippi and North Carolina. The show includes a selection of William Gedney's photographs shot in eastern Kentucky, Paul Kwilecki's 40-year study of Decatur County, Ga., and the work of Rob Amberg, Cedric Chatterley and Sally Mann, among others.
South African photographers David Goldblatt, Cedric Nunn, Paul Weinberg and Eric Miller represent the Archive of Documentary Arts' deep collection of South African photography. The show includes work by Tom Rankin, associate professor of the practice and director of Duke's Center for Documentary Studies, and Alex Harris, creative director of the center's Lewis Hine Documentary Fellows Program. The exhibition is complemented by the book "Beyond Beauty: The Archive of Documentary Arts at Duke University" (2009, Duke University Libraries), highlighting the acquisition of contemporary documentary photography over the last 30 years.
The exhibition was organized by the curatorial team of Sarah Schroth, the Nancy Hanks Senior Curator at the Nasher Museum; Margaret Sartor, photographer, author and instructor at the Center for Documentary Studies; Karen Glynn, visual materials archivist at the Rare Book, Manuscript, and Special Collections Library; Patricia Leighten, professor of Art, Art History & Visual Studies; and Margaret Morrison, a Duke student intern at the Nasher Museum.
The Nasher Museum of Art is located at 2001 Campus Drive at Anderson Street on the Duke campus. The museum is open 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday and Saturday; 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Thursday; and noon to 5 p.m. on Sunday. The museum is closed Mondays. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors and members of the Duke Alumni Association, $3 for non-Duke students with identification and free for children 15 and younger. Admission is free on Thursday nights. Admission is free to Duke students, faculty and staff with Duke Cards. Admission is also free to Nasher Museum members.
Nasher Museum exhibitions and programs are supported by the Mary Duke Biddle Foundation, Mary D.B.T. Semans and the late James H. Semans, The Duke Endowment, the Nancy Hanks Endowment, the K. Brantley and Maxine E. Watson Endowment Fund, the James Hustead Semans Memorial Fund, the Marilyn M. Arthur Fund, the Victor and Lenore Behar Endowment Fund, the George W. and Viola Mitchell Fearnside Endowment Fund, the Sarah Schroth Fund, the Margaret Elizabeth Collett Fund, North Carolina Arts Council, Duke's Offices of the President and the Provost, and the Friends of the Nasher Museum of Art.
Additional information is available at www.nasher.duke.edu.