Rochester, NY—The George Eastman Museum will premiere a retrospective of the work of artist David Levinthal next summer. The exhibition, David Levinthal: War, Myth, Desire, is set to open June 2, 2018 and will run through December 30, 2018.
David Levinthal: War, Myth, Desire is the first museum retrospective of the artist’s photography in more than twenty years. The exhibition will include nearly 200 prints, along with related books and ephemera.
In addition, it will give visitors a unique opportunity to consider Levinthal’s most recent work alongside key works from the full scope of his career.
David Levinthal
Since the mid-1970s, David Levinthal has been exploring the relationship between photographic imagery and the fantasies, myths, events and characters that shape contemporary America’s mental landscape.
This exhibition will include photographs from all of his major series to date. The best known include Hitler Moves East (1972–1975), Modern Romance (1983–1985), The Wild West (1986–1989), Desire (1991–1992), Blackface (1995–1998), Barbie (1997–1998), Baseball (1998–2004) and History (2010–2015). In addition, the museum will showcase never-before-exhibited outtakes, commissions and archival materials.
A publication with essays by well-known art critic and longtime friend of the artist, Dave Hickey, contemporary art specialist Joanna Marsh and exhibition curator Lisa Hostetler will accompany the exhibition. The set will include a book of essays on Levinthal’s career and three books of plates. Each illustrates a key theme in his oeuvre—war, myth and desire—which the artist himself identified.
George Eastman Museum
The George Eastman Museum was founded in 1947. It is the world’s oldest photography museum and one of the largest film archives in the United States. It is located on the historic Rochester estate of entrepreneur/philanthropist George Eastman, the pioneer of popular photography.
The museum’s holdings comprise more than 400,000 photographs and 28,000 motion picture films. It also has the world’s preeminent collection of photographic and cinematographic technology. It is one of the leading libraries of books related to photography and cinema. In addition, it houses extensive holdings of documents and other objects related to George Eastman.
As a research and also teaching institution, the Eastman Museum has an active publishing program. Moreover, through its two joint master’s degree programs with the University of Rochester, it contributes to film and photographic preservation as well as collections management. eastman.org
