Photo-Unrealism

October 17, 2014 – March 15, 2015

Photo-Unrealism explores the history of the abstract, the unreal, and the surreal in photography from its origins to the present. For many, a photograph is a picture of something tangible, a recognizable person place or thing from the real world, but throughout photography’s history artists have explored its potential to distort, disorient, blur, and alter the real world. This exhibition shifts the focus away from photography’s reproductive qualities to its productive capacity: its ability to create fantastic images that disrupt our sense of the natural order of things. Includes works by Anna Atkins, Andre Kertesz, James Van Der Zee, Nancy Burson, and many others.

image credit:
Carlotta M. Corpron
Floating, 1945
Gelatin silver print
Gift of Clarence John Laughlin, 82.281.25