Conversations: Photography from the Bank of America Collection comprises more than 100 photographs drawn from the renowned Bank of America Collection. The exhibition documents the evolution of photography since the 1850s and presents some of the most notable photographers of the 19th and 20th-centuries. Hand-picked from thousands of photographs, the works are displayed so as to create “conversations” between images by individual artists and across a wide range of themes, including portraits, landscapes, street photography and abstraction.

The exhibition presents works by some of photography’s most celebrated names, from 19th-century innovators Gustave Le Gray, Julia Margaret Cameron and Carleton Watkins, via 20th-century luminaries: Alfred Stieglitz, Harry Callahan, and Irving Penn, to contemporary image makers: William Eggleston, Thomas Ruff and Cindy Sherman. Modern works are juxtaposed with older works, European with American, and staged subjects with documentary images. These conversations create unique visual groupings, including images of visitors responding to art in museums, such as Thomas Struth’s Audience 4 (2004), which shows people gazing upward at Michelangelo’s statue of David at the Academia Gallery in Florence, and Musée du Louvre 4, Paris (1989), where visitors contemplate Théodore Géricault’s famous Raft of the Medusa in a Louvre gallery.

Conversations: Photography from the Bank of America Collection is made possible by the Bank of America Merrill Lynch Art in our Communities Programme™. The exhibition was originally curated by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, travelled to the Museo del Novecento in Milan, and has now been re-interpreted by the Irish Museum of Modern Art.

The exhibition is accompanied by a full-colour catalogue with texts by Enrique Juncosa, former Director of IMMA; Rena De-Sisto, Global Art and Culture Executive, Bank of America Merrill Lynch; Matthew S Witkovsky, Curator and Chair, Department of Photography, The Art Institute of Chicago; Anne Havinga, the Estrellita and Yousuf Karsh Senior Curator of Photographs, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Karen E Haas, the Lane Collection Curator of Photographs, MFA, Boston, and Mary Cremin, Project Curator: Exhibitons, IMMA. The publication provides a valuable insight into the history of the Collection and the development of photography over time. Price €25.00.

EVENTS

What is … Photography ? by Fiona Loughnane – Sat 3 March at 12noon, The Johnston Suite

Booking is essential, please click here to book.

STUDIO 8 PROGRAMME FOR 15-18 YEAR OLDS – Sat 3 March, 11am – 2pm

Gallery/Studio session in association with the Conversations exhibition

The sessions are free but booking is requested, for more information please click here

TEENCREATE for 12-15 year olds – Sat 10 March from 2.30pm-5pm

IMMA mediators will be leading a gallery discussion and workshop based on the Conversations exhibition.

The sessions are free but booking is requested, for more information please click here

LECTURE : Visual Democracy by Liam Kennedy – Thurs 22 March, 5.00pm, The Johnston Suite

Professor Liam Kennedy, Director of the Clinton Institute for American Studies at University College Dublin, presents a talk which explores the ways in which photography has represented the meanings of American identity in a range of frames and settings.

Booking is essential, please click here to book.

Gallery Talk: Conversations: Bechers and Beyond by curator Mary Cremin – Thurs 12 April at 4pm, New Galleries

Booking is essential, please click here to book.