In Actuality: Social Realism and Its Legacy from the Robert B. Menschel Collection

Jan. 18–April 10, 2022
Forsyth Galleries | Memorial Student Center, MSC 2428

 
Following the advent of photography in the mid-19th century, artists and critics alike struggled to make sense of this new technology and its place in the world of modern art. Some photographers chose to experiment with chemical processes and lighting techniques in order to achieve more abstract and painterly images, resembling traditional forms of art. Others embraced the camera’s documentary function and championed stark reality as a subject. This exhibition explores photographic works from the artistic movement known as Social Realism, popularized in the United States during the 1920s and 1930s, through which artists captured frank and unembellished scenes of working-class life and industrialized spaces.

A traveling exhibition from the Syracuse University Art Museum.
 

Inside the Exhibition

In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
Historical black and white photograph. Farmer.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
Historical black and white photograph. City scene.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
Historical black and white photograph. Woman in black car at funderal.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
Historical black and white photograph. Woman standing on the Texas Plains.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
Historical black and white photograph. Boys in a boat with an American flag and paper hats.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery cases with 20th century glass objects
Historical black and white photograph. Coal miners.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
Historical black and white photograph. Hundreds of people on a beach looking at the camera and viewer.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery cases with 20th century glass objects
Historical black and white photograph. Elderly woman neatly dressed in a suit, skirt, hat and with a cane.
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery cases with 20th century glass objects
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement
In Actuality Exhibition - gallery walls with black and white photography from the social realism movement