This must-see Joel Meyerowitz exhibition explores the work and process of a photography icon

Joel Meyerowitz ranks among the greatest photographers of all time , and a new exhibition will provide an insight into the mind of the photography icon.

Joel Meyerowitz: Temporal Aspects is a comprehensive retrospective exhibition scheduled to open on October 5, 2024, at the NSU Art Museum in Florida. The show will celebrate the museum's recent acquisition of 1,800 works by Meyerowitz and its dedication to showcasing great photography.

After deciding to dedicate his life to photography in 1962, Joel Meyerowitz captured life through his lens with a considered observation. You might say that his work falls under the genre 'street photography' as the street certainly was his atelier; however, his captures are much more than the street snapshots overrunning social media today.

His ability to identify and capture fleeting moments parallels the great Henri Cartier Bresson's 'decisive moments', all the more impressive when having to navigate the introduction of color film.

Meyerowitz was a key figure in the acceptance of color photography as a serious artistic medium and ranks among the great color photographers of the time along with Saul Leiter and William Eggleston.

The theme of this exhibition is time, and it is illustrated in many different ways. The time taken to take the photograph, the fleeting moment of the subject frozen in time, the time taken from capture to print, the lifespan of a print, and the time taken for the photographic journey to recognize the shot.

Temporal Aspects chronologically guides the viewer through the journey of Joel Meyerowitz's career, starting from his earliest works through to his experimentations with color, then onto his later photographs.

The key, and in my opinion most valuable, aspect of the exhibition is that it shows the experimentations and sample images taken throughout his exploration as if looking into his sketchbook. These are named 'work prints'. These prints address the durational life of the photographic print itself.

The NSU Museum states, "By seeing what is typically denied from view, audiences may learn of the impermanence of the medium itself over time, such as the ways in which some colors fade and others remain, and how the construction and logos on Kodak’s resin coated paper come to define a period within the history of photography. Viewers are also gifted an intimate view of a photographer’s studio practice through prints featuring Meyerowitz’s personal annotations, along with a display of multiple printings of the same image, across which viewers may chart the artist’s progress towards achieving his ideal".

Bonnie Clearwater is the chief curator of the museum and worked closely with Meyerowitz on bringing this exhibition to fruition. In discussing the exhibition I was able to ask some questions to get a better insight into the work.

The museum has recently acquired 1,800 pieces of Joel Meyerowitz’s works, what drew you to his work in particular?

The museum has historically made photography a major part of its exhibition and collecting program. The emphasis of our photography collection in on photographers who pioneered new directors, techniques, and aesthetics. As a pioneer of fine art color photography and perpetual innovator, this major archive of 1,800 photographic prints by Joel Meyerowitz.

How much of that work will be showcased in Temporal Aspects?

Over 100 photographic prints and a selection of working prints

What were the main points to consider when curating the exhibition?

As the inaugural exhibition of this gift, we aimed to introduce our audience to a survey of Joel Meryerowitz’s career. It is a chronological and thematic arrangement that showcases his skill in capturing the peak fraction of a second when shifting patterns, facial expressions, and vibrations of light form a complete image.

Did you work with Joel Meyerowitz on this?

Joel and his studio have been involved since the inception of the exhibition. It was a pleasure to have his input on the quality of the photographic prints, the unique qualities of his subjects, and his insight into his working process.

Joel Meyerowitz: Temporal Aspects will be on display at NSU Art Museum Fort Lauderdale from October 5, 2024, to March 15, 2025.

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