Studio, Street, Self: Portrait Photographs from The Historic New Orleans Collection

December 4, 2014 – February 28, 2015

Over the course of its 175-year history, photography has captured moments in time both monumental and minor, but portraying a person’s likeness at one specific instant has perhaps been the most prevalent use of the medium. “Studio, Street, Self: Portrait Photographs” from The Historic New Orleans Collection, presents several dozen images of identified subjects drawn from THNOC’s extensive holdings in photography. Photographic portraiture exists with different levels of collaboration: between a professional photographer and a client in a controlled studio setting; with a photographer and subject in the unpredictable outdoors; and with the subject and client acting in a seamless collaboration in the realm of self-portraiture. Whether the photographers or the subjects are famous, infamous, or unknown, Studio, Street, Self offers an opportunity to discover the rich history of portrait photography, all with a Louisiana connection.

image:
Clarence John-Laughlin photographing Jonathan Williams (1929–2008)
ca. 1966 photograph by Neil Robert Berzak, The Historic New Orleans Collection 2014.0003.2