Past Exhibitions | Gilda and Henry Block School of the Arts

31st Annual Art Center Student Exhibition

Join us at the 31st Annual Student Exhibition for an immersive exploration of artistic expression and achievement. As we proudly present the diverse talents of our students, we also honor the profound legacy of the 92Y Art Center during its momentous 150th anniversary.

For over 90 years, the Art Center has been a nurturing ground for artistic exploration, offering accessible educational experiences in various disciplines such as art appreciation, fine art, ceramics, jewelry, and metalsmithing for all learners. At the heart of our mission is the art-making process—an odyssey of self-fulfillment, intellectual engagement, challenge, and joy. This annual exhibition serves as a testament to our students’ dedication, providing a platform for contemplation, comparison, and critique.

In honor of 92NY’s 150th Anniversary, we asked our students to share how the Art Center has impacted their lives:

“92NY Center is a supportive, inspirational, educational community for anyone who is interested in exploring the creative process.”
—Sarah Grun

“Being connected to a community of artists is a peaceful, happy experience that flows into many other parts of cultural and personal life.”
—Susan Taussing

“The Art Center has become a very special corner of New York for me. Here I can study all kinds of art with outstanding teachers and meet other like-minded students, some of whom have become good friends.”
—Betty Schaffer

“I fell in love with portraiture through my classes at 92NY. There is something about drawing or painting people that makes me really look at the faces around me — family friends, strangers. Observation enriches life.”
—Katherine B. Weissman

“The 92NY Art Center has given me a place to create, connect and to see the world a little differently.”
—Margarett Perry

“It has made my life fuller.”
—Susan Goldman

In 1930, 56 years after the establishment of The 92nd Street Y, the Art Center found its home on 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue. Today, we draw inspiration from this storied legacy, recognizing the profound connection between our students’ artistry and the historical roots that define our institution.

Our gratitude extends to Catherine Hannah Behrend, an esteemed member of the 92NY community, whose unwavering support has made this exhibition possible. Individuals like Catherine exemplify the dedication needed to uphold the tradition of showcasing the incredible talent within our artistic community.

We would also like to thank Masha Turchinsky, Director and CEO of Hudson River Museum, for serving as this year’s guest juror.

Join us in celebrating 150 years of artistic excellence, bridging the past with the future and ensuring the perpetual journey of artistic discovery.

Image Gallery

34th Annual Art Center Faculty Exhibition

Step into a world of inspiration and transformation at the Annual Faculty Art Exhibition. This year, we are not only showcasing our talented faculty; we are also celebrating 150 years of creativity.

The remarkable art on display in the Weill Art Gallery is a testament to the dedication and talent of our teaching artists. These individuals, who skillfully balance their professional careers with their roles as educators, have poured their creativity into the works on display.

In 1930, 56 years after The 92nd Street Y, New York was established, the Art Center was founded. With designated classrooms providing a creative home at the new building on 92nd Street and Lexington Avenue, the foundation was set. Drawing & Painting and Arts & Crafts classes opened to all genders and ages, igniting the spark of artistic exploration. This marked the inception of an ambitious exhibition program that would later cement the Art Center as a haven for artists and art enthusiasts.

In this exhibition, you will witness the powerful connection between the artistry of today and the legacy of the past that has shaped our institution. The past fuels our commitment to excellence and innovation, ensuring our programs remain as dynamic as ever.

We are immensely grateful to Catherine Hannah Behrend who has made this exhibition possible. As a member of 92NY’s Board of Directors since 1976, she embodies the spirit of our community and is a devoted student of the Art Center. Her dedication has allowed us to preserve the tradition of exhibitions that unite our community.

Join us on this journey as we celebrate 150 years of artistic excellence, uniting the past with the future.

*Deganit Schocken; Caution, Sharp Edges, Pendant; Ready-made object (smashed can), silver, zircons*

*Shirly Bar Amotz; Outburst #1; Enamel on copper*

*Dana Hakim Bercovich; Meeting on the fence; Iron Mesh, Upholstery Threads- UV Light Tolerant Threads*

*Anat Grozovski-Aboucaya; Brooch #2; Silver 925, coper, enamel, pearl, brass, red thread, steel wire*

*Daniella Saraya; RE-COVER ring; Brass, quartz, epoxy, marble powder, paint*

Planned before the recent war in the Middle East broke out, Between Edges: Israeli Contemporary Jewelry focuses on the extremes of life in Israel, a place of constant conflict, where living and creating is continually experienced on the edge. It explores the processes of design, how and when we define the edges, and what happens in between. The rare use of materials and disciplines in jewelry pushes the boundaries between high and low concept, combining trash and diamonds, plastic with gold, iron with salt, silver with stone. The result is a unique combination of handmade craftmanship and cutting-edge technology.

“As a designer exploring Israeli design, I see how the extreme life in Israel influences our unconscious—exploring, checking edges and boundaries and leading us to sharp, contemporary jewelry design.”
Gillian Golan

Featuring jewelry by

Omer Adar
Noy Alon
Shirly Bar-Amotz
Samah Bathish
Dana Hakim Bercovich
Keren Gispan
Sofi Goldberg
Anat Grozovski-Aboucaya
Noga Harel
Natali Itzhak
Gregory Larin
Alam Lion
Peleg Mercedes Matityahu
Yafit Ben Meshulam
Orina Parente
Yael Pilo
Katia Rabey
Daniella Saraya
Deganit Schocken
Sara Shahak
Rachel Dahan Taanach

Between Edges is curated by Gillian Golan and Jonathan Wahl.

This exhibition has been made possible with the support of Shenkar College of Engineering, Design, and Art.

30th Annual Art Center Student Exhibition

Join us for the opening reception of the 30th Annual Student Exhibition. This exhibition of work by adult students enrolled in Art Center classes celebrates the talents of individual students. the devotion of the faculty to the process of teaching, and the community of artists at 92NY.

The Art Center Student Exhibition will be on view in the Weill Art Gallery at 92NY from May 26-July 10.

This exhibition, along with the Art Center faculty and visiting artist exhibitions, is generously supported by one of 92NY’s most passionate supporters, Catherine Hannah Behrend. Serving on the 92NY Board of Directors since 1976 and a leader in the arts, Cathie is also a student of the Art Center participating in drawing and art appreciation classes. Cathie has experienced how meaningful the Art Center exhibitions are for the community and we are so grateful that her support has allowed us to continue the tradition.

As part of Radical Adornment: The Music of JULIUS EASTMAN, The 92nd Street Y, New York is proud to present a unique exhibition showcasing photographs of Eastman captured by photographer Christine Rusiniak, including the iconic Water Series. Rusiniak’s lens offers a rare glimpse into the world of Eastman, and the essence of his creative spirit.

“It’s through art that I can search for the self and keep in touch with my resources and the real me.”
Julius Eastman, July 1976

“While coordinating the S.E.M. Ensemble, of which Julius Eastman was a founding member, I had many opportunities to photograph the group in rehearsals and at performances. I witnessed Eastman’s enormous talent - his sensitivity, humor, versatility, musicality, and leadership. He was an experimenter and risk taker. Julius could perform as an innocent, as the Mad King, as a dancer, painter, composer, singer, pianist. He reached deeply into himself, drew upon archetypes, could be a tragic or comedic figure. The images in this exhibit add a visual aspect and dimension to the musical performances celebrating the legacy of Julius Eastman. Sometimes the word ethereal comes to mind when I think of Julius Eastman because he embodied elegance, grace and beauty.”

— Christine Rusiniak

Chris Rusiniak

Chris Rusiniak is an American photographer and event organizer who worked in Buffalo, New York, in the 1970s. In 1974, Rusiniak co-organized the month-long events in Experiments in Art and Technology Exhibit 11011011 Broadcast 887574 at the University of Buffalo. As coordinator of the S.E.M. Ensemble, of which Julius Eastman was a founding member, she developed an interest in documenting musical performances …

The 92nd Street Y, New York proudly announces that prints of award-winning graphic artist and writer Adrian Tomine will be the focus of the newest exhibition in 92NY’s Weill Art Gallery. For over two decades, Tomine’s acclaimed art has been on the cover and in the pages of The New Yorker, with one of his most famous works pictured above, “Love Life,” from the cover of the December 7, 2020 issue, with its salient commentary about online dating during the first year of the pandemic. An accomplished writer as well as an artist, Tomine’s 2007 graphic novel, Shortcomings, has been made into a feature film selected for 2023’s Sundance Film Festival, with a screenplay written by Tomine and directed by Randall Park. Tomine has written eight books, many of them national bestsellers, and his most recent one, The Loneliness of the Long-Distance Cartoonist, was selected as one of the best books of 2021 by both the New York Times and Publishers Weekly.

Artist Statement

I’ve had the privilege of working in a range of creative modes over the years — as an illustrator, writer, designer, editor — but I primarily think of myself as a cartoonist. Comics was the medium that first sparked my interest in art, and it’s the field I’ve spent the most time in. While the images in this exhibition would clearly fall into the category of “illustration,” I’d like to think that they have certain qualities that could only result from my years making comics. I suppose the main difference is that, with comics, I break up a story into a lot of small panels, and with these illustrations, I’m trying to tell a story in one big panel. Most of these images originally appeared on the cover of The New Yorker, and I’m deeply indebted to Françoise Mouly (the arts editor at the magazine) for her early belief in me and her steadfast guidance and support. The prints were produced by Nocerino Editions of Denver, CO, and the images were created in various apartments in Brooklyn, NY.

— Adrian Tomine

33rd Annual Art Center Faculty Exhibition

This exhibition of work by the faculty of 92NY’s Art Center is an integral component of the 92NY annual exhibition program. The Art Center at 92NY is committed to the practice of hiring teaching artists: individuals trained in fine art, ceramics and jewelry who maintain their own professional careers while giving back as teachers. Featuring their work as artists in this exhibition is our way of acknowledging and celebrating their creative identities outside of 92NY. It is also a way to say thank you for the time and energy they commit to our students in the studios. While celebrating the talents of the current faculty, this exhibition also serves as a reminder of the long and rich history of the Art Center and the contributions of its prestigious faculty to the wider field of visual arts.

This exhibition, along with the Art Center student and visiting artist exhibitions, are generously supported by one of 92NY’s most passionate supporters, Catherine Hannah Behrend. Serving on the 92NY Board of Directors since 1976 and a leader in the arts, Cathie is also a student of the Art Center participating in drawing and art appreciation classes. Cathie has experienced how meaningful the Art Center exhibitions are for the community and we are so grateful that her support has allowed us to continue the tradition.

“I have captured these images during my travels where I have focused on women going about their lives. With my camera I have tried to convey a sense of time and place, highlighting the indigenous landscapes, dress and color. Each photograph is an individual arrested image, but collectively illustrate a commonality that women from all cultures share—striving to thrive in a male-dominated world. The women pictured often use color and style to proclaim their pride of survival, sometimes a calm acceptance, and in some instances quiet resignation. Sometimes I encounter a wry, humorous understanding of the obstacles which they and their sisters everywhere must overcome. Encountering Women is not only a glimpse of women around the world in their quotidian lives, but a celebration of the extraordinary courage they display in navigating our complex world.”

–Evelene Wechsler

To view all photos included in the exhibition, please follow this link: Encountering Women at 92NY, full photo album

39th Annual Art Center Student Exhibition

Welcome to the 29th Annual Student Exhibition! For over 90 years the 92Y Art Center has provided students of all ages and all levels of accomplishment with a superior educational experience whether in art appreciation, fine art, ceramics or jewelry and metalsmithing. As part of this mission, the Art Center provides training that helps to build technical skills as well as an informed appreciation of the arts. What is paramount is the art-making process: the self-fulfillment, intellectual engagement, challenge and fun that the practice of studio art can provide. However, the exhibition of one’s work can be an important part of this process. It provides a forum for contemplation, comparison, and critique, along with the simple joy of sharing one’s accomplishments. This annual exhibition of work by adult students enrolled in 92NY’s studio art classes celebrates the talents of individual students, the devotion of the faculty to the process of teaching, and the 92NY community of artists.

We would like to sincerely thank Catherine Futter, Director of Curatorial Affairs and Senior Curator of Decorative Arts at the Brooklyn Museum, for serving as the guest juror of this year’s exhibition. As part of her duties, she has selected her favorite work from each of the following categories – oil painting, drawing, collage, watercolor, ceramics, and jewelry.

In addition, the Art Center would like to thank Catherine Hannah Behrend for her generous support of this Annual Student Exhibition and all of the art exhibitions at 92NY.

Dark _ Lovely... Our Kind of Hair Coloring Will Do Beautiful Things to Your Kind of Hair, 16 x 20 inches, Acrylic on wooden panel — Dana Robinson
*Dark and Lovely, Our Kind of Hair Coloring Will Do Beautiful Things to Your Kind of Hair*
16” x 20”
Acrylic on Panel

Raj, and what she wanted to say — Maya Varadaraj
*Raj, and What She Wanted to Say*
60” x 48”
Acrylic on Canvas

Curated by Stephanie Baptist, On Being features the work of two visual artists: Dana Robinson and Maya Varadaraj. Drawing from a newer body of works (2020-2022), the exhibition consists of paintings and several installations that ask us to reconsider dominant narratives that feed into our personal and social identities. Central to these artists' practice is a penchant for using old memorabilia — magazines, advertisements, and calendars to investigate race and cultural identity.

Dana Robinson’s work addresses black female identity by using 70s Ebony magazines as source materials. In the Ebony Reprinted series (2018-present) we see smeared and textured paintings of unrecognizable faces pulled from magazine covers. Robinson deliberately uses a bright and playful color palette to invite accessibility while setting the stage for a deeper analysis of these vibrant works. Removing the original meaning and intent behind these covers, Robinson hopes to “eliminate all traces of exploitative, white-dominated, capitalist and commercial language” as a way to gain greater agency.

Similarly, Varadaraj’s work often explores the South Asian women's docile persona, as reflected in calendars, advertisements and illustrations, stemming from the 1940s and permeates to the present day. Her dislocation and masking of women from these prescribed domestic settings and responsibilities, liberate them from servitude and inscribe new meaning around convention and one’s place in the world. For this exhibition, Varadaraj presents a new series of charcoal drawings and paintings. Stepping away from the use of pop culture images to access a more personal narrative. Here the artist uses her own family photographs to interpret the manifestation of society through the individual and the family. Graphite drawings juxtapose highly detailed drawings with large areas of blurred graphite that swallow the figures’ face. Within these blurred areas, the artist intends for society to enter the personal — their own identities as well as interpretations. These individualized perspectives give added meaning to the gestures, clothes and other details found within the drawings.

This exhibition is an exploration of life, its complexities and one’s place in the world. While Robinson and Varadaraj works are singular in practice, shared commonalities include dissection (archival source material) and abstraction as a tool to re-address history, the stories we’ve been told and how identities are perceived.

Stephanie Baptist was a 2019 Catherine Hannah Behrend Fellow, a program of 92nd Street Y to support rising stars in visual arts administration.

The Art Center faculty, adult and special exhibitions are supported by Catherine Hannah Behrend.

Stephanie Baptist

Stephanie Baptist is the Founder and Director of Medium Tings, a roving gallery and project space for art and dialogue …

Welcome to 92NY Art Center’s Virtual Student Exhibition! For over 90 years, 92NY’s Art Center has filled a critical space in New York’s cultural fabric by providing students of all ages and levels of accomplishment with a superior educational experience whether in art appreciation, fine art, ceramics or jewelry and metalsmithing. As part of this mission, the Art Center provides training that helps to build technical skills as well as an informed appreciation of the arts. What is paramount is the art-making process: the self-fulfillment, intellectual engagement, challenge and fun that the practice of studio art can provide. However, the exhibition of one’s work can be an important part of this process. It provides a forum for contemplation, comparison, and critique, along with the simple joy of sharing one’s accomplishments. After this challenging year, we are especially proud to share this annual exhibition of work by adult students enrolled in 92NY’s in-studio and online art classes that celebrates the talents of individual students, the devotion of the faculty to the process of teaching, and the 92NY community of artists.

We would like to sincerely thank our faculty for the expertise and guidance they provided students while selecting work for this virtual exhibition. A special thanks to the 92NY web team for their help in creating this virtual exhibition and to our community of artists for sharing their talents with us.

In addition, the Art Center would like to thank Gilda Block for her continued generous support of this Annual Student Exhibition.

The 92NY Art Center Team

View the Exhibition

32nd Annual Art Center Faculty Exhibition

This exhibition of work by the faculty of 92NY’s Art Center is an integral component of the 92NY annual exhibition program. The Art Center at 92NY is committed to the practice of hiring teaching artists: individuals trained in fine art, ceramics and jewelry who maintain their own professional careers while giving back as teachers. Featuring their work as artists in this exhibition is our way of acknowledging and celebrating their creative identities outside of 92NY. It is also a way to say thank you for the time and energy they commit to our students in the studios. While celebrating the talents of the current faculty, this exhibition also serves as a reminder of the long and rich history of the Art Center and the contributions of its prestigious faculty to the wider field of visual arts.

This exhibition, along with the Adult Student exhibition and special exhibitions this spring, is generously supported by Art Center student and 92NY board member, Catherine Hannah Behrend.

The 92nd Street Y, New York is pleased to exhibit Tina Rath’s installation, Requiem, which she describes as a ritualized grief project, communal ceremony, and a memorial to honor and celebrate the lives of those who have died from COVID-19. This international project with worldwide scope provides a necessary opportunity to grieve together while offering support to these souls as they pass from one state of being into the next. Combining jewelry and visual art, Requiem consists of 108 necklaces of carved and ebonized wood that mass together creating a prayer mala on the perimeter of the gallery, and a collection of circle drawings in gold ink lining the walls — one circle representing each person who has passed — which are displayed in the space. The names of those who died from COVID will be written on the golden circles, which act as placeholders until names are learned. Rath hopes to eventually memorialize every person who has died from the pandemic in this way.

With worldwide deaths from COVID-19 nearly at 5 million people, over 34,500 in New York City alone, artist Tina Rath commented, “The numbers tell us how many, but they don’t tell us who. It’s abstract, the numbers are too big to truly comprehend. And now it’s personal for me, having recently lost a family member to the virus. My intent of this exhibition is to offer a visual understanding of just how many people have died as well as to give us all an opportunity to recognize and honor each individual whose life was lost to COVID.”

About the Artist

Tina Rath is a Bay Area visual artist whose work consists of jewelry and drawing. She holds degrees from The University of the Arts in Philadelphia (BFA) and The Sandberg Insituut in Amsterdam (MFA). Her work is included in the permanent collections of the Museum of Art and Design in New York City, The Museum of Fine Arts Boston and the Mint Museum in Charlotte, NC.

Requiem is part of New York City Jewelry Week 2021.

Supporting Sponsors:

31st Annual Art Center Faculty Exhibition

This exhibition of work by the faculty of 92NY’s Art Center is an integral component of the 92NY annual exhibition program. The Art Center at 92NY is committed to the practice of hiring teaching artists: individuals trained in fine art, ceramics and jewelry who maintain their own professional careers while giving back as teachers. Featuring their work as artists in this exhibition is our way of acknowledging and celebrating their creative identities outside of 92NY. It is also a way to say thank you for the time and energy they commit to our students in the studios. While celebrating the talents of the current faculty, this exhibition also serves as a reminder of the long and rich history of the Art Center and the contributions of its prestigious faculty to the wider field of visual arts.

This exhibition, along with the Adult Student exhibition held in the spring, is generously supported by one of 92NY’s most dedicated supporters, Gilda Block and her late husband Henry. A patron in the best sense of the word, Gilda is also a regular participant in many 92NY programs from lectures to concerts to painting classes. Gilda experiences firsthand all that 92NY has to offer its community and has found meaningful ways to contribute to this effort for which we are ever grateful.

Allison Valchuis Chapman
Director
92NY Art Center

The act of wrapping is essential to Natsuko Hattori’s sculptures. Fabric—in rich and often vibrant colors—is wrapped around cotton to form soft balls, which are bound together to make each unique artwork. The gesture of wrapping is an act of transformation that converts pain, sadness and despair into positive energy, conveying a sense of happiness and celebrating the human spirit.

This exhibition marks the culmination of the artist’s ten years in New York City. Exploring art beyond the boundaries of specific genres, Hattori collaborates with artists across media. For the exhibition’s reception, she brings a special intersection together in collaboration with 92NY’s Harkness Dance Center: the premiere of an improvised original dance featuring Hattori’s wearable art. The reception also features Masako Gibeault, an Ikebana (Japanese flower arrangement) artist. Exhibits include a new flower vase series made with Japanese kimono and obi, costumes, sculptures, and more.

Supporting Sponsors:

An exhibition of photographs and face jewelry by 92NY’s 2019 Artist In Residence. Claudia Lepik is an Estonian jeweler working in metal and mixed media with an edgy, avant-garde style. A recent graduate of the Estonian Academy of Arts, she explores connecting jewelry to the body in unusual ways, using the power of tension in her materials to hide and reveal parts of the body, and delves into the themes of strength and fragility. This show is part of NYC Jewelry Week.

“Lepik’s pieces block and distort the face, sometimes in ways that are conventionally attractive, and other times in ways that challenge conventional expectations of jewelry.”
Olivia Martin, Town & Country Magazine

Bonnie Lautenberg created the vibrant, monumental photographs that comprise Honey and Ice while she was on the go: flying in a plane over mountainous Israel and traveling in a boat around the shores of Antarctica. Both sites are far removed from the intense New York cityscapes of the artist’s American home. And yet presented here as single images, diptychs, or colorful friezes, the photographs in Honey and Ice establish themselves as part of an American artistic tradition in which depicting landscape’s beauty is incumbent upon reflecting nature’s power and precarity. Lautenberg belongs to this creative lineage—in which the artist seeks not to intrude upon the scene but to honor a contract of repair.

The 27th Annual Art Center Student Exhibition

Welcome to the 27th Annual Student Exhibition! For over 89 years the 92NY Art Center has provided students of all ages and all levels of accomplishment with a superior educational experience whether in art appreciation, fine art, ceramics or jewelry and metalsmithing. As part of this mission, the Art Center provides training that helps to build technical skills as well as an informed appreciation of the arts. What is paramount is the art-making process: the self-fulfillment, intellectual engagement, challenge and fun that the practice of studio art can provide. However, the exhibition of one’s work can be an important part of this process. It provides a forum for contemplation, comparison and critique, along with the simple joy of sharing one’s accomplishments. This annual exhibition of work by adult students enrolled in 92NY’s studio art classes celebrates the talents of individual students, the devotion of the faculty to the process of teaching and the 92NY community of artists.

The numerous entries received always require us to limit the number of objects exhibited in the gallery. We would like to sincerely thank Cindy Trope, Associate Curator at Cooper-Hewitt, National Design Museum, for serving as the guest juror of this year’s exhibition. As part of her duties, she has selected her favorite work from each of the following categories—oil painting, drawing, collage, watercolor, ceramics and jewelry.

In addition, the Art Center would like to thank Gilda Block for her continued generous support of this annual student exhibition.

Allison Valchuis Chapman
Director
Art Center

Great photographers see the same world in which we exist, but their artistry is in the perspective, the framing and the context which casts a moment in ways that elude most of us. Judy Glickman Lauder is a great photographer, but part of her unique extraordinary artistry is the “soulfulness” she brings to her work as demonstrated in this exhibition.

There is something more than the faces and objects and places that appear in this exhibition. They are all part of a larger story, a personal thirty-year voyage on which she invites us to join her as she has always photographed that to which she is drawn. Some of the images in this exhibition lace historic and often tragic events with a human filter that urges us to have it all enter our lives as something more than memory. The faces become part of a timeline which surges forward to the future.

Other images catapult us into the exquisite loveliness of our world, encouraging us to find interest, if not joyfully fall in love with the places and objects which we may not have previously beheld the same way as the sensitive eye of the photographer encourages us to focus differently. Together, this exhibition contains an incipient hope that we forge forward into the splendor and possibilities of tomorrow never losing our grasp of the preciousness and power of yesterday.

The journey of this exhibition awaits us.
—Rabbi Peter J. Rubinstein

About Judy Glickman Lauder

Judy Glickman Lauder is an internationally recognized photographer, humanitarian and philanthropist. She is a Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain. Her work is held in private collections and public institutions around the world, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; the Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the United States Holocaust Museum, Washington, DC. She is represented by the Howard Greenberg Gallery in New York City.

A number of photographs were recently published by the Aperture Foundation in a book titled Beyond the Shadows: The Holocaust and the Danish Exception (2018). These photographs are also the subject of two traveling exhibitions, Holocaust: The Presence of the Past and Resistance and Rescue: Denmark’s Response to the Holocaust, which have been shown at more than two hundred institutions around the world. Other books include Upon Reflection: Photographs by Judith Ellis Glickman (2012); Both Sides of the Camera: Photographs from the Collection of Judy Ellis Glickman (2007); as well as a book on the work of her father, For the Love of It: the Photography of Irving Bennett Ellis (2008).

Presently, Ms. Glickman Lauder serves on the Board of Trustees of the Portland Museum of Art and is a member of both the Getty Museum Photographic Council and the Photographic Visiting Committee of the Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Merce Cunningham, photo by James Klosty

Dia:Beacon Events (2008); Choreography: Merce Cunningham; Performance: Merce Cunningham Dance Company at Dia Art Foundation, Beacon, NY; Dia:Beacon, Riggio Galleries, Dec 5, 2008; © Stephanie Berger

Since 1935, 92NY’s Harkness Dance Center has been an historic home of modern dance, supporting the talents of pioneers like Martha Graham, Alvin Ailey and José Limón. As part of this year’s Harkness Dance Festival (March 1-30), we present photographs by James Klosty and Stephanie Berger to create a conversation between two eras of one of the dance field’s most important artists: Merce Cunningham.

James Klosty’s black and white photographs (1968-1972), taken during the golden years of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company, tell the story of the radical experimentations and collaborations between a powerful nexus of personas, and of Cunningham not only as a choreographer but also as a dancer at his peak. We see, through Klosty’s unfettered access, icons of the avant-garde—John Cage, Marcel Duchamp, Jasper Johns—interacting and creating art with Cunningham as the company rehearsed and toured the world redefining dance and influencing younger artists for generations.

Klosty writes that his intention “has not been to document or ‘illustrate’ Cunningham’s dances … dancing is a process far less understandable … than the arresting, gracious, somehow comprehensible form the dancer’s body assumes upon a piece of paper …. While photography is literally a timeless art—what’s left when time is taken away—dancing’s very being is time … For this reason my focus is not dancing but an association of artists … (and) the current almost palpably surrounding the man, charging his work, informing every aspect of that world which, by his presence, he defines.”

In contrast, Stephanie Berger’s vibrant color photos feature the last company of dancers with whom Cunningham worked, and capture a later generation of collaborators, many of whom have gone on to their own choreographic careers, like Dylan Crossman, highlighting the impact of Cunningham’s legacy. Berger’s photos emphasize the heights of the jumps, the quickness of the steps, the geometry and precision of the dancers that are stunning for their virtuosity and unpredictable forms. As technology advanced with digital cameras, time speeds up and the crispness of pixels contrast with the grain of film.

Berger writes, “I photographed the Merce Cunningham Dance Company dancers many times, during dress rehearsals and live performances, including their two-year residency within the site-specific galleries at Dia:Beacon and the company’s “Final Events” performances at the Park Avenue Armory. I am still in awe of Merce’s collaborations with artists and the cutting-edge innovations he created even as he approached his nineties. Responding to the sounds and shifts of tempo, I looked for moments that articulated the dancers’ expressivity and form, to show tension and energy, stillness and movement that frame the genius of his choreography and bring the viewer back into the experience of these performances.”

Through the lenses of both Klosty and Berger, we see the timelessness of Cunningham’s work, and how his many collaborations inspired a legacy that will influence art and choreography of the future.