The Yale University Art Gallery is launching a major exhibition of works by American Photographer Donald Blumberg. The exhibit covers the span of his long career, from candid New York street scenes from the '60s to his latest photographs, still shots of TV shows with closed captioning.
In photographer Donald Blumberg's groundbreaking work from the mid-1960s called In Front of St. Patrick's Cathedral, people spill out of the famous New York City landmark onto Fifith Avenue.
"He discovered that the opening of the door to the cathedral, behind it, was jet black," said Jock Reynolds, director of the Yale University Art Gallery and co-curator of the exhibit. "It was dark looking into the cathedral itself, so the people coming out the church -- it was as though you posed them in front of a jet black backdrop paper."
The result: families, nuns, and people from all walks of life mingle with blurred, ethereal images in front of the dark backdrop of the vast cathedral.
In the late '60s and '70s, Blumberg photographed local newspaper articles about the Vietnam war, especially servicemen killed in combat.
"Those photographs really make you think about the individual pain and loss," said La Tanya Autry, the Marcia Brady Tucker Fellow in modern and contemporary art at Yale and co-curator of the exhibition. "When you see one person gone, you think about the family members, and you know, it's like a network of people all affected by this war."
Autry said that so much of Blumberg's career has been that of an observer -- of politics, violence, and of modern culture. Now 80 years old, Blumberg has been taking still shots of television shows with closed captioning -- typically soap operas, reality shows, poker matches, and UFC fights.
Reynolds said the still image forces us to reflect on the torrent of imagery and language coming through our televisions day and night. "It's a show that calls for really deep reflection on what we're being offered, and what we choose to consume or not consume," he said.
"Donald Blumberg Photographs: Selection from the Master Sets" opens on Friday night and runs through November 22 at the Yale University Art Gallery.
