The Friends Focus: On Photography

Like the shutter of a camera closing on a sprinting athlete, this exhibition freeze-frames the Vassar College Art Gallery at an exciting moment. With a new gallery on its way, and a newly articulated commitment to serve the larger region, this is an exhibition which speaks of transition and mid-air aspiration.

Since 1989 has been a year when the 150th anniversary of the invention of photography has been celebrated throughout the world, why not at Vassar? We hope the structure and programming of this offering will begin a lively dialogue among photographers, collectors, artists, students, and those interested in greater understanding of this always evolving art form.

This exhibition draws upon the outstanding talent of photographer Stephen Shore, whose personal selections, culled from the Vassar collection, underscore the considered judgments and idiosyncratic nature of the curatorial procedure. We appreciate Stephen's sharing with us some of the ways in which, as a practitioner, his own selective vision operates.

Alice Forman

Hudson Valley Area Chair,

Friends of the Vassar Art Gallery