In this exhibition portraits, new-media art, and other photographic imagery focus on aesthetics and the framing of beauty and difference in the human form. The exhibition invites visitors to conduct a visual reading of the portrait within the context of video and ethnographic, commercial, and art photography. In this context, photographs and digital imagery mediate between idealization and imagination.
Working from the significant photographic holdings of the University of Washington’s Henry Art Gallery, and the University of Washington Libraries, Special Collections, Deb Willis examines shifting gender attitudes that emerged in work by women photographers such as Gertrude Käsebier and Diane Arbus. Willis discusses ethnographic ideologies underpinning the work of Edward Sheriff Curtis and Fred E. Miller who worked with Native American subjects, as well as the framing and reframing of images of black people in the work of Samuel Montague Fassett and Carrie Mae Weems.
![Deborah Willis (far right), the curator of the exhibition at the Henry, "Out [o] Fashion Photography: Embracing Beauty", discusses the exhibition with moderater and Henry’s Director, Sylvia Wolf (center), and arts, culture, and media professional Erika Dalya Massaquoi (left).](https://i0.wp.com/www.theactivescreen.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/03/deb-sylvia-and-erika.jpg?resize=540%2C300)
Additionally, the effects of fashion and desire on the imaging of beauty are examined in the work of such artists as Don Wallen, Janieta Eyre, and Jan Saudek. The book includes full-page illustrations of works by more than fifty internationally recognized photographers including Lisette Model, Imogen Cunningham, Lewis Wickes Hine, Bruce Davidson, Cecil Beaton, Nan Goldin, André Kertész, Lee Friedlander, Lorna Simpson, Cindy Sherman, and Andy Warhol.
This exhibition and the associated book honors and acknowledges these striking collections and their collecting patterns since their inception.