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National Gallery of Art: Untitled, 1989, Robert Bergman,
Portraits, 1986–1995.
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About this exhibition: “Using a handheld 35mm camera and available light, Robert Bergman spent 12 years making a series of large color portraits that address not only his subjects’ physical presence but also their psychic state. Drawing on his finely tuned sense of form and an ability to establish a rapport with his subjects, he never sensationalized or objectified them. Instead, he explored their penetrating gazes, downcast eyes, or distant stares to reveal their startling array of emotions—suspicion with curiosity; despair with resilience—thus making clear each individual’s “strength and delicacy,” as Schapiro noted.” (read more). See the press checklist in PDF. The NGA offers other interesting online ressources here.
The book is available for sale over at Amazon.
About Robert Bergman: “Born in New Orleans in 1944, Bergman’s father was a doctor and his mother was a Shakespearean actress. He first began to photograph as a child and seriously embraced the medium in his early twenties. In the mid 1960s, he was deeply influenced by Robert Frank’s book The Americans. Like so many other “street photographers” of that generation, he abandoned the large-format view camera he had previously employed and began to use a 35mm format to make black-and-white photographs in the American urban environment. Although he worked in the rapidly changing cityscape, he, unlike many of his contemporaries, increasingly sought out quiet, meditative moments.
In the 1980s, Bergman began to make color photographs that combine the saturated and muted hues of both the city and his subjects’ attire to achieve a rich, painterly idiom. He resides in Minneapolis and New York City.” (read more)
Other Bergman’s exhibitions are currently being held by the P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center in New York and the Yossi Milo Gallery. Open the Yossi Milo’s press booklet in PDF (it contains, among others, article by The Wall Street Journal and The Washington Post : follow the links to enjoy these articles on their respective website).
