Through: Windows and Mirrors in Twentieth-Century Photography

Through: Windows and Mirrors in Twentieth-Century Photography

MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025

See Through: Windows and Mirrors in Twentieth-Century Photography brings together a group of images that are doubly framed—once by the camera lens and again by the border of a mirror or window. By refracting and distorting, revealing and concealing, these reflective and transparent surfaces both draw attention to the photographer’s efforts to frame the world and expose the contingent nature of reality. Highlights from the exhibition include works by Eugène Atget, Robert Doisneau, Elliott Erwitt, Walker Evans, André Kertész, Joanne Leonard, Danny Lyon, and Joel Meyerowitz. By extending the limits of perception, these witty and provocative works invite us to see [through to] new visual possibilities.

See Through: Windows and Mirrors in Twentieth-Century Photography
June 2 – September 23, 2018

University of Michigan Museum of Art
525 South State St Ann Arbor, MI 48109
umma.umich.edu

Wynn Bullock, Self-Portrait, 1971, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of The 831 Photographic Gallery, 1972/1.153, © 1971/2018 Bullock Family Photography LLC. All rights reserved.

Wynn Bullock, Self-Portrait, 1971, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of The 831 Photographic Gallery, 1972/1.153, © 1971/2018 Bullock Family Photography LLC. All rights reserved.

Elliott Erwitt, Cracked Glass with Boy—Colorado, 1955, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Gerald Lotenberg, 1981/2.194.2, © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

Elliott Erwitt, Cracked Glass with Boy—Colorado, 1955, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of Gerald Lotenberg, 1981/2.194.2, © Elliott Erwitt / Magnum Photos

Eugène Atget, Men's Fashions, 1925, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 1974/1.107

Eugène Atget, Men’s Fashions, 1925, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Museum purchase, 1974/1.107

Walker Evans, Penny Picture Display, Savannah, 1936, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift from the Collection of David S. Rosen MD, MPH, 2013/2.130

Walker Evans, Penny Picture Display, Savannah, 1936, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift from the Collection of David S. Rosen MD, MPH, 2013/2.130

Joanne Leonard, Winged Ones, 1987, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of the artist, 2016/2.19, courtesy of Joanne Leonard

Joanne Leonard, Winged Ones, 1987, gelatin silver print. University of Michigan Museum of Art, Gift of the artist, 2016/2.19, courtesy of Joanne Leonard


MonoVisions Black & White Photo Contest 2025