WestLicht Photo Museum Presents Polaroid (Im) possible Exhibition ion view 17.06.2011 – 21.08.2011.
When the legendary Polaroid Collections of Europe & the USA were put on the market by the liquidators dealing with the assets of the insolvent company and they were going to be auctioned off by Sotheby’s New York, this caused a public outcry on the international photography circuit. Lead by Chuck Close, artists, museums and photo aficionados worldwide protested against the sale of the collection. At the last minute, WestLicht managed to take over the European part of the collection and save it from being dispersed. Founded by Erwin Land in the 1960s this unique historic collection encompasses 4400 pieces by 800 international artists.
Oliviero Toscani Andy Warhol with camera 1974, Polaroid Type 105 3¼ x 4¼” © Oliviero Toscani
The exhibition will present a selection of masterpieces by well-known names such as Ansel Adams and Andy Warhol- a first cross section of this extraordinary corpus.
A further addition to the show will be the works of contemporary artists, such as Nobuyoshi Araki and Daido Moriyama, that have been working with the new Impossible instant image material. An astonishing range of innovative artistic processes outlines the specific originality and magic of instant photography.
The cameras and film types, especially the fascinating large formats of 50x60cm will equally be outlined in the exhibition.
With works by Ansel Adams, Nobuyoshi Araki, Edouard Boubat, Manuel Álvarez Bravo, Paul Caponigro, Lucien Clergue, Charles Eames, Walker Evans, Franco Fontana, Joan Fontcuberta, Gisèle Freund, Toto Firma, Luigi Ghirri, Ralph Gibson, Sam Haskins, Robert Heinecken, Gottfried Helnwein, Paul Huf, Yousuf Karsh, Les Krims, David Levinthal, Sally Mann, Robert Mapplethorpe, Mary Ellen Mark, Will McBride, Daido Moriyama, Mark Morrisroe, Helmut Newton, Vicki Lee Ragan, Robert Rauschenberg, Jan Saudek, Fazal Sheikh, Stephen Shore, Jeanloup Sieff, Aaron Siskind, Oliviero Toscani, Ulay, Andy Warhol, William Wegman, Minor White and others.
Accompanying the show a catalogue will be published FROM POLAROID TO IMPOSSIBLE / MASTERPIECES OF INSTANT PHOTOGRAPHY – THE WESTLICHT COLLECTION by Hatje Cantz (Ed. Achim Heine, Rebekka Reuter, Ulrike Willingmann; German-Englisch, 192 Pages, approx. 200 Color images, bound with protective sleeve, € 39,80).
www.westlicht.com