PHOTOGRAPHY AND WORKS ON PAPER

Anyone who’s been following the Ringling’s exhibition schedule for the past few seasons has undoubtedly noticed the new visibility that photography has received in our galleries. A series of exhibitions in the museum’s Searing Wing—The Warren J. and Margot Coville Collection, Herb Ritts: LA Style, Witness to War, and Picturing Ceylon—have articulated a variety of important perspectives on the history of photography to our community. This burgeoning emphasis in programming is a reflection of the Ringling’s growing collection of photography.

Spurred by the generosity of the Covilles’ donation of now over 1,900 photographs since 1997, other collectors have been eager to be a part of the Ringling’s program. Hillary Leff, Elliot Groffman, and Geoffrey West have gifted significant works by Louis Stettner and Leon Levinstein to the museum in honor of the Covilles, and Sally Strauss and Andrew Tomback have donated prints by notables such as Ilse Bing, Danny Lyon, and Dmitri Baltermants. Most recently, the Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visiting Arts selected the Ringling to be the recipient of a group of 19 Polaroid photographs taken by Warhol in 1971. These snapshots, part of Warhol’s obsession to document all of his aesthetic interests and personal interactions, will offer a glimpse into the enigmatic life of one the most important artists of our era. Collectively, each of these contributions will broaden the museum’s holdings in 20th-century photography and enrich our understanding of the defining medium of the modern age.

This engagement with photography is not the reflection of a new institutional appreciation of the relevance of the medium; in fact, the museum has been actively collecting creative photography ever since it added prints by Wynn Bullock, Ansel Adams, and Jerry Uelsmann to the collection in 1968. However, with a renowned permanent collection of grand scale Baroque painting, the museum has not always had the opportunity or space to grant its photography collection pride of place. Further, photographs and works on paper require special consideration in order to be displayed. They are much more susceptible to fluctuations in humidity and temperature, and long exposure to ultraviolet light and air pollution will have a deleterious impact on their condition. Therefore these types of works are only displayed for several weeks at a time and then removed from circulation to rest. It may surprise most visitors who tour the galleries that the majority of the Ringling’s holdings are actually prints, drawings, and photographs that are rarely on display.

With the addition of the Ulla R. and Arthur F. Searing Wing in 2007, the Ringling Museum gained 30,000 square feet dedicated to temporary and traveling exhibitions, and has redoubled its commitment to bring its important works on paper and photography collection to the public. Beginning with Unfamiliar Realities and Optical Impulses in November 2013, the Searing Wing will feature small rotating installations highlighting work from our permanent works on paper and photography collection. The next iteration of this series, In the Streets: Photographing Urban Spaces, presents the myriad ways in which photographers have recorded their experiences of the city. Future installations in the works include an examination of Salvator Rosa’s 17thcentury figure studies in etchings, and a look at Danny Lyon’s iconic Bikerider Series that documents the motorcycle culture of the 1960s. This ongoing series will bring to light the surprising diversity of our works on paper collections.