In a Social Landscape: Photography in the United States after 1966

In 1966, the George Eastman House of Photography in Rochester, New York, hosted a pivotal exhibition curated by Nathan Lyons called Toward a Social Landscape. The slim, accompanying catalog was shared amongst photographers who were especially encouraged by Duane Michals’s observation that “when a great photographer does infuse the snapshot with his personality and vision, it can be transformed into something truly moving and beautiful.” The UK Art Museum has a robust collection of photographers included in and inspired by this exhibition including Ruth Bernhard, Bruce Davidson, Lee Friedlander, Danny Lyon, Alen MacWeeney, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Duane Michals, Peter Turnley, and Garry Winogrand. Their photographs are not merely records of scenes they observed, rather they are charged emotional moments formed in the relationship between the person behind and the world in front of the camera.  

 

This exhibition of photography from the United States is installed on the floor above Self and Others: Japanese Photography after 1968 so visitors can compare and contrast two parallel discourses on opposite shores of the Pacific Ocean. Shared concepts and processes indicate a growing sense of international contemporaneity in the 1970s. Both exhibitions are presented in conjunction with the 2025 Louisville Photo Biennial.  

 

IMAGE:

Duane Michals, Untitled from Alice’s Mirror, 1974, gelatin silver print. Collection of the UK Art Museum, purchase: The Robert C. May Photography Fund.