The Red Jackson photograph by Gordon Parks sent me into a whirlwind of reactions from the first time I saw it. Encountering this black and white masterpiece in the Metropolitan Museum of Art feels like a lucky break at first. It’s a thoughtful photographic version of a Vermeer that’s still fresh today, even though it’s …
Why is the Robert Frank photograph Trolley New Orleans so important?
– Segregated seating in black and white
– A complex framework of composition
– Truth, hard work, and hope
Why is The Falling Soldier photograph by Robert Capa such a stunner?
– A spectacle and shadow of death
– Cropping with poignant purpose
– Controversy can’t kill a masterpiece
What makes Untitled (Man Smoking/Malcolm X) by Carrie Mae Weems a masterpiece?
– Malcolm X in a supporting role
– Where Black America meets the globe
– Arm wrestling, poker, and booze
Why does Cindy Sherman’s photograph Untitled Film Still 35 looks so familiar?
– Soft core porn set the rules
– Stereotypes beware Cindy Sherman’s face
– Setting the stage for ankles in Untitled Film Still 35
How does Ana Mendieta’s Flowers on Body both subvert and epitomize feminist art?
– Outsider gets inside the earth
– Culture and nature without gender
– Breaking binaries and boundaries