20twenty

de Jeffrey Fraenkel

The Fraenkel Gallery celebrates its 20th anniversary with a special exhibition and corresponding catalogue entitled 20Twenty. Including works by 68 photographers and spanning the history of the medium, this project focuses on masterworks as well as entirely unknown photographs by anonymous practitioners. The artists include Arbus, Brassai, Cornell, Duchamp, Eggleston, Kertesz, LeWitt, Man Ray, Modotti, Rodchenko, Ruscha, Stieglitz, Strand, and Warhol, among many others. Moving backwards, forwards, and sideways through the past 160 years, the works interweave in unexpected ways themes that photographers have addressed since the invention of the medium. Through its concentration on a group of photographs which have propelled, sustained, and re-invented the medium, 20Twenty involves the viewer in photography's intricate past, present, and future. Certainsub-themes emerge when disparate pieces are viewed in context with one another: the exploration of the metaphysical in photography, a long history of self-fashioning, and the innate aspects of the surreal imbued within photographs. Also included is an exhibition list of the gallery's first 20 years.