It’s raining, it’s pouring—perfect conditions for settling down to a marathon of documentaries about photography on Ovation today. At 11am I’m watching “The Genius of Photography,” which includes a segment about Robert Frank and his famous cross-country road trip and subsequent seminal book “The Americans“—which turned 50 this year. The series makes you feel nostalgic and it inspires. It makes you want to run out and find truth and beauty in the every day. The Museum has a photograph from “The Americans” series, and it just happens to be on view for the first time in a very long time (photos are super light sensitive, so they are displayed sparingly) in the exhibition “Face to Face,” the third installation of the Academy’s works-on-paper series Graphic Cabinet, curated by Shaun Tateishi. (The series was started by former Curator of European and American Art Michael Rooks, who is now director of exhibitions at Haunch of Venison in New York.) Already making a profound statement when it was published in 1956, “Charleston” (pictured above) takes on new resonance in Obamaworld. Head to Gallery 9 to see works that you’ve probably seen in books—they’re that famous. Wait until you seen them in real life.
