Charles A. Hartman Fine Art is excited to present Faces: Vintage and Contemporary Photographic Portraits. For this exhibition, the gallery draws upon its specialized access to 19th and 20th century photographic masterworks, and thematically merges those selections with images from contemporary photographers represented by the gallery. Artists in the exhibition include: Ansel Adams, Manuel Alvarez Bravo, Harry Callahan, Lewis Hine, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Arnold Newman, W. Eugene Smith and Frederick Sommer, with Corey Arnold, Daido Moriyama, Mark Steinmetz and Issei Suda, amongst others.
Faces investigates the fundamental tension in photography between point of view and composition. In a formal portrait, for example, the subject is very aware of the photographer. An informal or candid portrait, however, is often less about the individuals and more about the existential theme or experience being documented. Many inspired questions guided the selection and juxtaposition of these images. Does a photographer need to acknowledge and/or subvert a subject’s projected expression to arrive at a "true" portrait of essence? To what extent does a photographer manipulate a subject to express something that they themselves feel? In both cases, how do we, the viewers, find our way into the composition? If a portrait is not a depiction of "somebody", then to what extent is it a portrait of us all?
Faces investigates the fundamental tension in photography between point of view and composition. In a formal portrait, for example, the subject is very aware of the photographer. An informal or candid portrait, however, is often less about the individuals and more about the existential theme or experience being documented. Many inspired questions guided the selection and juxtaposition of these images. Does a photographer need to acknowledge and/or subvert a subject’s projected expression to arrive at a "true" portrait of essence? To what extent does a photographer manipulate a subject to express something that they themselves feel? In both cases, how do we, the viewers, find our way into the composition? If a portrait is not a depiction of "somebody", then to what extent is it a portrait of us all?