How the ’70s radicalised the landscape of photography

The ’70s Lens — Half a century ago, visionary photographers including Nan Goldin, Joel Meyerowitz and Larry Sultan pushed the envelope of what was possible in image-making, blurring the boundaries between high and low art. A new exhibition revisits the era.

Since its inception in 1839, photography has largely been relegated to the margins of fine art. While painting, sculpture, and architecture served the interests of the church, state, and ruling class, photography was largely regarded as pedestrian. Being mechanical, it was far more accessible, affordable, and reproducible than the likes of painting and sculpture, making it a favorite of commercial artists and hobbyists alike.

But with the political and social shifts of the late ’60s, a noticeable change took hold as the once entrenched hierarchy of high and low art began to crumble under the weight of false hierarchy. With figures like John Szarkowski leading the photography department at the Museum of Modern Art, the ’70s marked the beginning of a new era for the medium that stood at the heart of liberators and activist movements.

Now, The ’70s Lens: Reimagining Documentary Photography at the National Gallery of Art in Washington DC revisits this seminal decade with some 100 works by more than 80 photographers including Helen Levitt, Stephen Shore, Joel Meyerowitz, Garry Winogrand, and Michael Jang, who blurred the boundaries between art and artefact. “This intense moment of questioning applied to thinking about the definition of what documentary photography was and what it can be,” says Andrea Nelson, associate curator at the National Gallery of Art’s Department of Photographs.

Two men in winter coats and hats standing in front of a coffee shop.

A person jumping with arms raised against a cityscape backdrop, including the Brooklyn Bridge.

Two young boys, one wearing a green shirt and the other dressed formally, standing in front of a graffiti-covered wall and examining an object together.

The exhibition spotlights a new generation of then-emerging photographers such as Nan Goldin, Peter Hujar, Susan Meiselas, and Larry Sultan and Mike Mandel who eschewed shopworn notions of “objectivity” in favor of the intimate, critical, and complex exploration of the medium’s paradoxical nature.

Read next: Pensive photos of London in the ’70s and ’80s

“Photography opened a means for a wide variety of artists to examine the world anew, to rethink modes of seeing, representation, and art making,” says Nelson. “Its ability to record the world in front of the camera’s lens, to make visible people, places, and events that have been overlooked or not recognized made it attractive to a number of artists.”

The ’70s Lens also exhibits photographers like Anthony Barboza and Shawn Walker of Kamoinge – the world’s longest running non-profit photography collective, who drew inspiration from the times in which they lived, as well as Sophie Rivera, an early member of En Foco, the Bronx based collective for photographers of color. With the spirit of liberation in the air, artists came together to build community among their own.

Two African-American women embracing, one smiling widely and the other looking tenderly at her companion. Black and white image of a city street in the background.

Black and white photograph of a man reclining on the back of a vintage white sports car parked in a grassy area with a brick building in the background.

Individual wearing a hooded black jacket with fur trim, looking directly at the camera against a dark background.

Two smiling women wearing white dresses and standing in a wooded area.

A young man stands on a city street, wearing a black top and blue jeans.

“These movements fostered artists to examine the exclusionary character of the art world itself, and many artists who had been excluded from the mainstream art world founded alternative spaces, community centres, workshops, and collectives,” says Nelson.

“Photography’s engagement with social issues was still very powerful, what was changing was who stood behind the camera,” she continues. “Taking up the camera, engaging with photography, was a way to work outside of the established art world that had marginalised many people. It was a way to express new ideas and record actions that were breaking down conventional notions of what art could be.”

The ’70s Lens: Reimagining Documentary Photography is on view through April 6, 2025, at the National Gallery of Art in Washington D.C.

Miss Rosen is a freelance arts and photography writer, follow her on X.

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