Where to Go and What to See

We must be reminded every so often that photography was not always the top-dollar high art that is today. An exhibit at the New York Public Library's Humanities and Social Sciences Library travels back to those early days of photography's acceptance and honors one of the earliest outlets for photographic exhibitions: The Midtown Y Photography Gallery. Founded in 1972 by Larry Siegel with the help of Robert Menschel, the gallery was the first nonprofit organization in New York City designed specifically for the public display of photographs. The more than 160 prints in the library's show include important work by the likes of Aaron Siskind, Arthur Tress, Arthur Leipzig, and Sy Rubin.

Another memory from a bygone time comes in the form of Li Zhensheng's Red-Color News Soldier, on view at the California Museum of Photography, it's first exhibition within the U.S. Named for the words written on armbands (above) given to Zhensheng and his group of Mao supporters during China's Cultural Revolution, this show includes photos Zhensheng took while working as a photographer for the Heilongjiang Daily newspaper. At the time, only "positive" images could be printed, but the exhibition includes "negative" images that Zhensheng kept secret until 1988.

~Miki Johnson

(Image: Arband given to Zhensheng/Courtesy red-colornewssoldier.com)

Follow the link for details about these and many more photos events around the country.

New York Events

April 24
NYU/Tisch School of the Arts BFA Senior Photography Exhibition
Opening
On view through May 12
721 Broadway (between Waverly and Washington)

April 26, 6-8
Erwin Olaf: Grief
Reception for the artist
On view through June 2
Hasted Hunt
529 W. 20th St.

April 26, 7-9
Olaf Otto Becker: Under the Nordic Light
Opening reception
On view through June 9
Stephen Cohen Gallery
7358 Beverly Blvd., Los Angeles

April 26, 6-8
Jonathan Elderfield
Opening
On view though June 2
CUE Art Foundation
511 W. 25th St.

April 27
Making the Scene: The Midtown Y Photography Gallery, 1972–1996
Opening
On view through July 28
New York Public Library
5th Ave. at 42nd

April 29, 5-7
Oedifice Complex: Photographs by Pradeep Dalal, Bernard Yenelouis, and Shigeki Yoshida
Opening reception
On view through May 31
The Camera Club of New York
853 Broadway, 2nd Floor (between 13th and 14th St.)

Other Events

April 26, 6 pm
Tim Roda: Family Album
Lecture with Tim Roda
April 27, 12 pm
Barbara Probst: Exposure; Monika Brandmeier: Bilder und Blicke/Pictures and Views
Curator's tour with Karen Irvine
Museum of Contemporary Photography
Columbia College
600 S. Michigan Ave, Chicago

April 27
Harry Benson: Being There
Opening
On view through Sept. 3
The National Portrait Gallery
The Smithsonian, Washington, D.C.

April 28, 7-9
Li Zhensheng: Red-Color News Soldier; Feast: Christy Johnson and 33 Confessors
Opening reception
On view through July 7
University of California Riverside
California Museum of Photography
3824 Main St., Riverside, California

April 28
Southwest Alaska: A World of National Parks and Wildlife Refuges: Photographs by Robert Glenn Ketchum
Opening
On view through June 23
Sonoma County Museum
425 Seventh St., Santa Rosa, CA