Posted on
2021-09-20
The iconic New Woman-modern, independent, stylish, creative, and confident-was a revolutionary model for women across the globe. Featuring more than 120 international photographers, The New Woman Behind the Camera explores the diverse “new women” who embraced photography as a mode of professional and personal expression from the 1920s to the 1950s. This groundbreaking exhibition will reveal the significant impact women have had on the history of modern photography.
Women actively participated in the development of photography soon after its inception in the 19th century. Yet it was in the 1920s, after the seismic disruptions of World War I, that women entered the field of photography in force. Aided by advances in technology and mass communications, along with growing access to training and acceptance of their presence in the workplace, women around the world made an indelible mark on the growth and diversification of the medium. They brought innovation to a range of photographic disciplines, from avant-garde experimentation and commercial studio practice to social documentary, photojournalism, ethnography, and the recording of sports, dance, and fashion.
Opposite – Lola Álvarez Bravo (Mexican, 1903–1993), In Her Own Prison, c. 1950
Exhibition runs through to January 30th, 2021
National Gallery of Art
4th and Constitution Avenue NW
Washington
DC 20565
www.nga.gov
