l33g0's video: Duane Michals The Portraitist Hasselblad Center 2022 - Gothenburg Museum of Art G teborg Sweden

Duane Michals: The Portraitist Hasselblad Center - Gothenburg Museum of Art (Göteborgs Konstmuseum), West Sweden February 11 – May 15, 2022 The exhibition presented the American photographer Duane Michals who is one of the pioneers in experimental portrait photography. Michals made a name for himself in the 1960s by breaking with an established documentary tradition and instead, he uses a distinctive photographic style that gave his models a space to express themselves. Michals is also known for his photographic series where he conveys personal stories with messages and poems written directly on the image itself. When portraying actors, writers and musicians, Michals has not been afraid to use an experimental and improvisational manner. Interested in art from a young age, Michals took classes at the Carnegie Museum of Art in Pittsburgh before attending the University of Denver, from which he received a Bachelor of Arts degree. In 1956 after the army, he continued in the arts at the Parsons School of Design in New York City, where he trained as a graphic designer. His photographic career commenced in 1958, when he traveled to the Soviet Union and made portraits of people on the streets with a borrowed camera. On his return, he worked as a freelance photographer for Vogue, Esquire, Mademoiselle, and Life magazines, doing fashion photography and portraits. Over the years, Michals’s approach to expressive photography changed considerably. His early interest in street happenings led him to make single documentary images of events that were considered part of what then was called the “social landscape.” In the mid-1960s he lost interest in straight documentation. Inspired by the work of such painters as René Magritte and Balthus, Michals began to address literary and philosophical ideas about death, gender, and sexuality. He usually staged scenes to be photographed and worked with multiple exposures, sequences, and series. He also experimented with combining text and drawings with his images. The Portraitist exhibition consisted of more than 125 portraits, many of which were recently discovered in one of his workrooms in New York City. With images of double exposures, shifting perspectives and collages, the exhibition painted a picture of both technically skilled and spontaneous photographer that creates surprising images that continue to fascinate and amaze. Hasselblad Center had also The Hasselblad and the Moon exhibition. Man’s first steps on the Moon were eternalized using a Hasselblad camera and the images are among the most iconic in the history of photography. The Hasselblad camera was used for all of the Moon landings in the years 1969 to 1972. The Hasselblad and the Moon exhibition focused on the development of the camera, the decisive collaboration with NASA, and the people behind both the camera company and the Hasselblad Foundation: Erna and Victor Hasselblad. The interest in photography within the family-owned business started with Victor Hasselblad’s grandfather, Arvid Viktor Hasselblad, who in 1885 obtained the sole Swedish distribution rights for George Eastman’s (later Kodak) photographic products. Victor Hasselblad developed the work around photography, and built the camera company Victor Hasselblad AB with his wife Erna. The couple also shared an interest in nature and Victor was a skilled bird photographer Erna and Victor sold the camera company in the 1970s. The Hasselblad Foundation was formed in 1979, uniting the couple’s passion for nature, science, and photography. The foundation’s purpose is to support continued research and education within the natural sciences and photography. The exhibition hall of the Hasselblad Center is located in the Gothenburg Museum of Art. Hasselblad Center shows contemporary exhibitions both from international and Swedish photographers. It produces three major exhibitions every year, one of which features the annual Hasselblad Prize winner. The exhibition program consists of established and upcoming Swedish and international photographers. The exhibitions at Hasselblad Center are included in the admission to the Gothenburg Museum of Art. https://www.hasselbladfoundation.org/en/ The Gothenburg Museum of Art has one of the foremost art collections in Northern Europe. Works by masters such as Rembrandt, Picasso and van Gogh are shown side by side with works by contemporary artists. https://goteborgskonstmuseum.se/en/ The Gothenburg Museum of Art is located at Götaplatsen, at the top of Kungsportsavenyn (“the Avenue” main street) in central Gothenburg. The museum building was designed for the Gothenburg Exhibition (Jubileumsutställningen i Göteborg) in 1923 by architect Sigfrid Ericson. The eastern extension was added 1966–1968, after drawings by Rune Falk. The museum represents the monumental Neo-Classical style in Nordic architecture. It is built of a yellow brick called ”Gothenburg brick” because of the material's frequent use in the city.