Manukusci, Cartier-Bresson, Seidner, etc.
If you can see the exhibit at ICP up now through April 29, it's worth spending some time.
First, I'd say to go early in the day, as the HCB images are SMALL prints, so you want to be close to them. A crowded gallery would make this hard. The prints are small because they literally come from HCB's scrapbook/notebook, a guide he used to plan an exhibition that was mounted at the close of WWII. The prints for that exhibit were closer to 11x14 size and there are a few of them on display, but the majority are these 4x6-ish size work prints. And as work prints sometimes are, some of them are really flat, some show crop marks (very, very few as HCB usually printed full frame, it seems). I enjoyed the show. I learned that HCB was a prisoner of war, and was presumed dead by the art world until he escaped.
The Manukusci prints were also interesting. Some great work. I wasn't familiar with him either.
I also enjoyed "new acquisitions" the Museum was exhibiting including quite a few Walker Evans vintage prints, an Eggleston, and several others.
The show stopper for me was some large scale, large format Platinum prints by David Seidner that were exhibited in the Museum's cafe. They are not displayed in an ideal way, but the portraits--tight head and shoulder shots, dramatic single-source lighting--are brilliant. I was really excited about these prints. I was not familiar with Mr. Seidner's work, and looked for a website to try to learn more about his technique. I learned that he died of AIDS several years ago.
I hope some of you get a chance to see this show if you're coming to New York any time over the next couple months.
Neal
