NEW YORK, NY (November 17, 2023) – The International Center of Photography (ICP) begins a year-long celebration of its 50th anniversary in 2024 with two shows that mine ICP’s important photographic collection to examine the history of imagemaking and look toward the future of photography. David Seidner: Fragments, 1977–99, a tribute to a fashion and art photography legend, and ICP at 50, a selection of key historical and contemporary highlights from the collection, will both be on view from January 26 through May 6, 2024.
“Fifty years ago, ICP’s founder Cornell Capa envisioned a first in the field of photography, a dedicated center where important exhibitions and discussions about concerned photography would take place. Today, with our growing photography school and programs, Cornell would be proud of ICP’s contributions to shaping understandings of the world through education and images. ICP’s winter 2024 exhibitions will explore the breadth of our foundational collection and reintroduce our audiences to key imagemakers throughout history. ICP at 50 will also present the work of contemporary artists who influence our understanding of photo-based art today and its future potential,” said ICP Executive Director David E. Little.
ICP at 50
ICP at 50 presents highlights from the collection amassed over the 50 years since ICP was established in 1974. The first overview of the collection since the institution’s move to 79 Essex Street in January 2020, the exhibitionwill show the depth and breadth of the ICP holdings, celebrating photography’s evolution from the 19th century to the present, featuring works by key photographers in the collection to works by lesser-known artists, vernacular photography, and recent acquisitions.
In addition to works from the major archives of Robert Capa, Weegee, and Gerda Taro, the exhibition will present significant figures from photography’s history alongside important contemporary artists, including Yto Barrada, Louise Lawler, Laurie Simmons, Lorna Simpson, Mickalene Thomas and Carrie Mae Weems, among others. Recent acquisitions by artists Jess Dugan, Nona Faustine, Deana Lawson, Paul Mpagi Sepuya, and Guanyu Xu, and selections from other key aspects of ICP’s collection, among them the recently acquired Francesco Scavullo Archive and images by unknown photographers, scientific and governmental images, and activist posters from the 1980s and ‘90s groups ACT UP New York and Gran Fury will also be on view. ICP at 50 is curated by Elisabeth Sherman, Senior Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections; Sara Ickow, Senior Manager, Exhibitions and Collections; and Haley Kane, Coordinator, Exhibitions and Collections.
David Seidner: Fragments, 1977–99
This first-ever survey of the work of David Seidner (1957–1999) will reintroduce this important artist of the 1980s and 1990s. During his lifetime, Seidner was well-known as a fashion photographer for designers such as Yves Saint Laurent—with whom he had an exclusive contract at the age of just 22—Azzedine Alaïa, and Madame Grès, among many others. He was also a prolific editorial photographer for publications such as Harper’s Bazaar, Harper’s & Queen, The New York Times Magazine, Vanity Fair, and international editions of Vogue.
In addition to his commercial and editorial work, Seidner was committed to his own practice. The exhibition will highlight his early fine art photography and fragmented portrait studies, images of groundbreaking dancers and choreographers, portraits of well-known contemporary artists and their studios, and from his final project, abstracted studies of orchids. Seidner was also a frequent contributor to BOMB Magazine as a photographer, interviewer, and guest editor and his key early role at this important publication will be featured.
Though Seidner’s work has largely faded from view since his passing from AIDS-related illnesses in 1999, the exhibition will present the complexity of Seidner’s work and career, his vibrant fashion and editorial photography as well as his own artistic experimentations and his documentation of the New York art world. The work on view will be drawn predominantly from Seidner’s archive, which has been a part of ICP’s collection since 2001 but has been rarely exhibited. The exhibition is curated by Elisabeth Sherman, Senior Curator and Director of Exhibitions and Collections at ICP.
