PICTURES OF THE TIMES: A CENTURY OF PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE NEW YORK TIMES
June 27–October 8, 1996
An exhibition that reveals the diversity, vitality, and evolution of news
photography in The New York Times opens at The Museum of Modern Art on
June 27, 1996. PICTURES OF THE TIMES: A CENTURY OF PHOTOGRAPHY FROM THE NEW
YORK TIMES includes 150 black-and-white photographs of major world events,
human-interest stories, and natural and man-made disasters, as well as
politicians, celebrities, and sports figures. In conjunction with the
exhibition, The New York Times Collection at the Museum is being established
with a gift of 300 photographs from The New York Times.
PICTURES OF THE TIMES, which continues through October 8, 1996, is one of four
exhibitions being organized at New York cultural institutions to commemorate
the hundredth anniversary of Adolph S. Ochs's purchase of The New York
Times. The centennial celebration, titled "Adolph S. Ochs: The Man Who
Changed The Times," features concurrent shows at the American Museum of Natural
History ("Scientists and Journalists—One Story, Two Voices: A Century of
Science Reporting at The New York Times"), The New York Public Library
("Headlines, Deadlines, Bylines: A Century of The New York Times Morgue,
1896–1996"), and The Pierpont Morgan Library ("Documenting The Times: Adolph
S. Ochs and the Early Years of The New York Times"). The Centennial
Celebration Chairperson is Susan W. Dryfoos, Director, New York Times History
Productions. The Vice Chairperson is Arthur Gelb, President, The New York
Times Company Foundation, and former Managing Editor of The New York
Times.
"We are delighted to participate in this celebration of The New York
Times's
anniversary," states Glenn D. Lowry, Director, The Museum of Modern Art, "and
we are tremendously pleased that it initiates The New York Times
Collection at The Museum of Modern Art."
Peter Galassi, Chief Curator, and Susan Kismaric, Curator, Department of
Photography, working with staff at the Museum and at The Times,
selected images for the exhibition from more than one million photographs (of
the more than five million in The New York Times archive). "In subject,
style, and date the pictures are enormously diverse," states Mr. Galassi, "but
they all share the gripping immediacy that makes photography both an
indispensable presence in the daily paper and a vital part of history."
Arranged chronologically, Pictures of the Times explores the twentieth century
and the city of New York through the eyes of a distinguished newspaper. The
images capture pivotal moments in history — the shooting of Lee Harvey Oswald
(1963) and a footprint on the moon (1969) — as well as everyday events in the
life of the city. Vivid images of such figures as Hitler, Churchill, Houdini,
Einstein, Coolidge, Nixon, and LaGuardia are presented among scenes of train
wrecks, murders, beauty queens, Halley's Comet, and a close play at home plate.
In other photographs, the Wright brothers circle the Statue of Liberty (1909),
Russia's last czar strolls with his family (1916), a gaping hole made by an
errant B–25 bomber mars the facade of the Empire State Building (1945), and
citizens of Sarajevo grieve over a fallen companion (1995).
The publication accompanying the exhibition, Pictures of the Times: A
Century of Photography from The New York Times, features full-page
reproductions of all of the photographs in the exhibition. Two essays and a
chronology explore the rise of newspaper photography at the turn of the
century, its ever more efficient technology, its role in the news, and such
initiatives of The New York Times as the Wide World Photo syndicate.
A symposium in conjunction with the exhibition will be held Thursday, June 27,
at The Museum of Modern Art.
For further information or photographic materials please contact the Department
of Communications, 212/708–9750.
