Reflecting on the beauty and frailty of the photographic negative, Celebrating the Negative explores the beauty and nuance of the negatives of some of the most iconic images of the 19th and 20th centuries, including works by Dorothea Lange, Richard Avedon, and Man Ray. John Loengard’s photographs were shot with spontaneity and fresh perspective, with the compositions including the hands of those charged with caring for the negatives, and capturing the moment when they were first brought out of the darkness and held to the light. 

The series was completed in 1994, and in the intervening years digital photography has made the photographic negative increasingly obsolete. As film processing becomes a lost art, Loengard notes that “perhaps the implications of [the negative’s] obsolescence will spark wider interest, but so far, collectors do not collect them, and most museums won’t accept them.” In the meantime, Loengard’s photographs highlight the eerie beauty and rich afterlife of the negative: a physical presence linking past with present, safeguarding these historical images in a way that digital processes can never fully replace.

WORKS
40 photographs

DIMENSIONS

16 x 20 to 20 x 24 in
(41 x 51 to 51 x 61 cm)

SPACE REQUIREMENTS

Approximately 300 linear feet (91 linear meters)

INQUIRIES

exhibitions@curatorial.org
626.577.0044

FEE

$6,500 for an eight-week period

ARTIST BIOGRAPHY

John Loengard has had a significant impact on the practice and discourse of photography as photographer, editor, critic, curator and historian. He started his distinguished photography career as a Life magazine staff photographer in 1961. From 1973 until 1987 he was the magazine’s picture editor. The author of a number of books and recipient of numerous awards, he has taught at The International Center for Photography, the New School for Social Research (both in New York City) and at workshops around the country. In 2004 Loengard was honored with the Henry R. Luce “Lifetime Achievement Award” from Time Inc., and, in 2005, American Photo magazine identified Loengard as “One of the 100 most influential people in photography.” Loengard’s work is in the collections of institutions including the National Portrait Gallery, Washington, D.C., the Center for Creative Photography, Tuscon, Arizona, the International Center of Photography, New York, the Menil Foundation, Houston, Texas, and the George Eastman House, Rochester, New York.