In the decades after World War II, although straight photography continued to dominate, artists increasingly turned to documenting personal experiences, encounters, and concerns. Some women adopted social documentary and journalistic approaches as a means for personal expression. Photographing real individuals and communities, these women captured daily life unfolding, revealing the extraordinary in the everyday.
In the United States, the rise of feminism in the 1960s and ’70s cast a critical eye on gendered social norms and their perpetuation in the media. Many women artists perceived the photograph as an ideal mechanism to reveal and challenge stereotypes of femininity, explore notions of identity, and highlight tensions between fact and fiction.
I really believe there are things which nobody would see unless I photographed them.
Bank of America Collection
Courtesy Graciela Iturbide
Graciela Iturbide (Mexican, born 1942)
Fiesta de las velas (Festival of the Candles), Juchitán, Oaxaca, Mexico
1986
Gelatin silver print
Bank of America Collection
Courtesy Graciela Iturbide
Iturbide described photography as “a pretext to know the world, to know life, to know yourself.” From 1979 to 1988, she photographed the Indigenous Zapotec community in Juchitán. She admired, as she said, the “big, strong, politicized, emancipated, wonderful women” who oversee village life. Her intimate access to daily life and ritual arose from her immersion in the communities she portrayed.
Bank of America Collection
© Flor Garduño Photography
Flor Garduño (Mexican, born 1957)
Santo Reposo (Holy Rest), Santa Catarina Palapó, Guatemala
1989
Gelatin silver print
Bank of America Collection
© Flor Garduño Photography
For her series Witnesses of Time, Garduño traveled through Guatemala, Bolivia, Ecuador,Peru, and her native Mexico, to photograph the people, landscapes, and cultures of Indigenous communities. She spends time with the people she photographs, sharing their experiences and building trust— Garduño’s pictures convey the connection she develops with her subjects.
Artwork Description:
A black and white portrait of young twin girls standing side by side, dressed in identical fine clothing and hairstyles.
Diane Arbus (American, 1923–1971)
Identical twins, Roselle, N.J.
1966
Gelatin silver print
Bank of America Collection
These twin girls, who Arbus spotted at a Christmas party, pose side-by-side and face the camera head on, which heightens the unsettling intensity of their gazes. Despite the girls’ apparent sameness, a closer look reveals subtle differences. As Arbus once noted, “If you scrutinize reality closely enough . . . it becomes fantastic.” Variations in the girls’ features, expressions, and clothing remind us that these twins possess distinct personalities.
Artwork Description:
A black and white photograph of a family in their living room. To the left, a man as tall as the ceiling stands, hunched, and looks down to the right at his shorter mother and father.
Diane Arbus (American, 1923–1971)
A Jewish giant at home with his parents in the Bronx, N.Y.
1970
Gelatin silver print
Bank of America Collection
Arbus sought out individuals that mainstream society excluded because of their unconventional appearance or lifestyle. Her unflinching photographs of sideshow performers, nudists, exotic dancers, and others are alternately praised for their empathy and censured for their perceived exploitation. The artist knew Eddie Carmel for a decade before snapping this picture of him with his parents.
Bank of America Collection
© Cindy Sherman, courtesy Metro Pictures
Cindy Sherman (American, born 1954)
Untitled Film Still #50
1979
Gelatin silver print
Bank of America Collection
© Cindy Sherman, courtesy Metro Pictures
Serving as her own model for over four decades, Sherman has assumed guises and personas that range from amusing to disturbing. To realize her Untitled Film Stills series, she photographed herself performing a range of female stereotypes from film and media—innocent secretary, over-worked housewife, femme fatale. The series critiques roles and representation of women in society.
Bank of America Collection
Image courtesy the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and Sprüth Magers. Photo: Peter Paul Geoffrion
Barbara Kruger (American, born 1945)
Untitled (We will no longer be seen and not heard)
1985
Photolithographs with screenprinting
Bank of America Collection
Image courtesy the Nasher Museum of Art at Duke University and Sprüth Magers. Photo: Peter Paul Geoffrion
Kruger capitalizes on photography’s connection to advertising and entertainment to provide social, economic, and political commentary. Her distinctive prints juxtapose found photographic images and text, which she keeps deliberately terse. “I understand short attention spans,” she says. In effect, Kruger uses the language of mass media to critique consumerism and oppression. An avid feminist, she typically uses “we” to refer to women’s collective voices.
Modern Women/Modern Vision: Works from the Bank of America Collection has been loaned through the Bank of America Art in our Communities® program. This exhibition is presented with generous support from the donors to the Annual Fund Leadership Campaign and the residents who support the Scientific and Cultural Facilities District (SCFD). Promotional support is provided by 5280 Magazine and CBS4.
