THE NEW YORK TIMES MAGAZINE PHOTOGRAPHS

APRIL 26, 2014 - AUGUST 24, 2014

For more than thirty years, the weekly New York Times Magazine has shaped the possibilities of magazine photography, through its commissioning and publishing of photographers' work across the spectrum of the medium, from photojournalism to fashion photography and portraiture. In this exhibition, focusing primarily on the past fifteen years, long-time New York Times Magazine photo editor Kathy Ryan provides a behind-the-scenes look at the collaborative, creative processes that have made this magazine the leading venue for photographic storytelling within contemporary news media.

The exhibition comprises eleven individual modules, each of which focuses on a notable project or series of projects that have been presented in the pages of the Magazine. While by no means comprehensive, the projects featured here mirror the Magazine's eclecticism, presenting seminal examples of reportage, portraiture, as well as fine art photography. Using visual materials drawn from different stages of the commissioning process-shot lists, work prints, contact sheets, videos, tear sheets, and framed prints-the Magazine's collaborative methodology is revealed from initial idea to the published page, and, in some cases, continues beyond magazine publication, when an exploration that began as an assignment has become a part of a photographer's ongoing work.

The New York Times Magazine continues to provide an increasingly rare venue for visual storytelling on the printed page, and, perhaps of equal consequence, offers a unique forum for the cross-pollination of photographic genres. As Ryan asserts, “Often the best creative work happens when there is crossover between different disciplines. A film is painterly. A photograph is sculptural. Likewise, the Magazine is often at its best when we bring photographers to projects that fall outside their usual borders. When a fine artist takes on a news story, or a documentary photographer embarks on a fashion shoot, sparks fly from the page."

Curated by Kathy Ryan and Lesley A. Martin