Icons: The Portrait Unbound
Exhibition at The Breman Museum, April 2023 – February 2024.
The Breman Museum, in collaboration with Lumière gallery, produced the exhibition,
Icons: Selections from the Portrait Unbound – Photography by Robert Weingarten
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In The Portrait Unbound, Robert Weingarten poses a central question: “Can you express a person’s being and character photographically without showing them?” The challenge is devising a way of making a portrait that separates the subject from the specifics of time and place.
Weingarten first determined that his portrait subjects should be prominent and recognizable individuals of high achievement. The process involved introducing the goal of the project to the subject and requesting a list of objects, places and things that define who they are. During the ensuing dialog he dug deeper with his subjects and inquired about their background, interests, experiences, accomplishments and the places that were important to them. The process was collaborative to a degree uncommon in most photographer-subject relationships.
In the construction of these images the spirit of the Cubism is on display, with a model for illusionistic art of seemingly transparent planes superimposed so as to suggest that the eye can see into and through objects. Weingarten has coined the term “translucent composite” as a new addition to the vocabulary that describes his digital practice and defines one of the primary characteristics of this work.
“A viewer’s ability to appreciate these multi-layered, multiscaled, visually active images is dependent upon the viewer’s willingness to slow down and look. It also requires a readiness to reframe one’s own idea of what a photograph, portrait and/or digital image should look like. Weingarten’s works are challenging and puzzling to some viewers, but they also reflect a moment in the broader culture and the building of a visual language in a digital world.” — Shannon Perich, Curator, The Photographic History Collection, National Museum of American History, Smithsonian Institution
Weingarten’s photography has been featured in more than 90 exhibitions worldwide and is in over 40 major museum collections including The National Gallery of Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, George Eastman House, High Museum of Art, J. Paul Getty Museum, Smithsonian Institution, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Denver Art Museum, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, as well as other public, corporate and private collections.
Featured in this exhibition is the work of Robert Weingarten.
Select this link to view his complete artist page.
Robert Weingarten (1941) At the age of 54 he decided to become fully committed to his photographic art. His Landscapes often showcase repetitive natural form and magnificent hues. The 6:30 AM series, for which Weingarten photographed the same view during the year 2003 from his home in Malibu, Calif., is a perfect example of this style. The 6:30 AM series was featured in a 2005 book of the same title, published by Hatje Cantz, which was Weingarten’s third photography book in two years. The series displays his ability to evoke a sense of natural superiority reminiscent of the Hudson River School painters while exhibiting an Impressionistic sensibility.
Weingarten’s work has been featured in more than 80 exhibitions worldwide, most of them solo exhibitions. He has earned the distinction Fellow of the Royal Photographic Society (FRPS) Bath, England, and his images are in the permanent collections of 30 museums, including the J. Paul Getty Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts (Houston), Whitney Museum of American Arts, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Smithsonian Institution, National Gallery of Australia, George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, and the High Museum of Art. Numerous exhibitions in the United States and Europe have been complemented by six books of his photographs.
Robert Weingarten provides an Overview of The Portrait Unbound
Hank Aaron & Robert Weingarten discuss Aaron’s portrait
Born to Be Wild: A Dennis Hopper Mini Fest
Saturday & Sunday October 14th & 15th
@ the TARA Theatre, 2345 Cheshire Bridge Road N.E.
Purchase Tickets Here
The Breman and Tara Theatre will present Born to Be Wild: A Dennis Hopper Mini Fest hosted by Dr. Eddy Von Mauer, featuring screenings of three films starring the edgy character actor, at the Tara Theatre on Saturday and Sunday, October 14-15, 2023. The screenings are being presented in conjunction with The Breman’s exhibition ICONS: Selections from The Portrait Unbound, Photography by Robert Weingarten.
The Tara, Atlanta’s beloved art house movie theater, located at 2345 Cheshire Bridge Road N.E.
Tickets: $13 matinee, $15 evening, Purchase Tickets Here.
Breman members use the promo code BREM for a 15% discount.
An actor, director, screenwriter and photographer, Hopper rose to fame as a countercultural icon in the 1960s and later developed into a character actor noted for inhabiting characters with a dark side. The actor’s intensity will be well displayed in Born to Be Wild: A Dennis Hopper Mini Fest. Here are capsules of the three films:
Blue Velvet (8:00 p.m. Saturday October 14th): The discovery of a severed human ear found in a field leads a young man on an investigation related to a beautiful, mysterious nightclub singer and a group of criminals who have kidnapped her child.
Hoosiers (4:30 p.m. Sunday October 15th): Also released in 1986, this is a more conventional and sentimental film than Hopper’s usual, a winning sports movie about a small-town Indiana high school basketball team that competes in the state championships in the 1950s. Hopper plays the alcoholic assistant coach, aiding Gene Hackman’s head coach with a spotty past. Hopper was recognized with an Academy Award nomination for best supporting actor.
Easy Rider (7:30 PM on Sunday October 15th): A cross-country trip to sell drugs puts two hippie bikers on a collision course with small-town prejudices.
PHOTOGRAPHY TALK - Pushing Boundaries
Sunday September 10th, 2 PM @ the Breman Museum
Robert Weingarten & Shannon Perich
Register for Your Free Tickets Here
Robert Weingarten provides an Overview of The Portrait Unbound
Self Portrait of Robert Weingarten from the Portrait Unbound
An illuminating discussion on the development of photographic portraiture that led to Robert Weingarten’s groundbreaking work now on view at The Breman. Join photographer Robert Weingarten and Shannon Perich, associate curator in the Photographic History Collection at the Smithsonian’s National Museum of American History and author of The Changing Face of Portrait Photography: From Daguerreotype to Digital.
Sports Talk - Hank Aaron
Sunday August 13th, @ 1 PM with Zack Klein & Jeff Schultz
HANK AARON: Portrait of the Player and the Man
Hank Aaron
Zach Klein, sports director for Channel 2 Action News, and Jeff Schultz, senior writer for The Athletic, discussed the amazing highs and sobering challenges that were never far apart in “The Hammer’s” world.
Hank Aaron reached the pinnacle of Major League Baseball when he broke Babe Ruth’s home run record in 1974, but getting there was not easy for reasons that went well beyond the field of play. The estimated 900,000 letters the Atlanta Braves outfielder received in 1973 was reported to have contained many hundreds of racist attacks and death threats. It wasn’t the first time that Aaron had prevailed in the face of racism. He started his career in the segregated Negro American League as an 18-year-old in 1951, and when he made it to the Majors in 1954, he often slept in railcars in which the Milwaukee Braves traveled since most of the hotels where his teammates stayed were white only. Aaron radiated dignity in public, but the inequities and threats were a burden he carried into his successful post-playing career in Atlanta, the self-promoted “City Too Busy to Hate.”
In The Breman program “Hank Aaron: Portrait of the Player and the Man,” Zach Klein, sports director for Channel 2 Action News, and Jeff Schultz, senior writer for The Athletic, explored the amazing highs and sobering hardships that were never far apart in “The Hammer’s” world.
The program was another in a series focused on photographer Robert Weingarten’s biographical portraits, including one of Aaron, in The Breman’s current photography exhibition “ICONS: Selections from the Portrait Unbound.” “ICONS” curator Tony Casadonte was in the gallery to discuss Weingarten’s groundbreaking portraits before and after the talk.
DANCE TALK: In Step with Baryshnikov
Sunday July 16th, @ 2 PM
John Heginbotham & John Welker
One of the subjects of Robert Weingarten’s “biographical portraits” in The Breman’s exhibition ICONS, Selections from The Portrait Unbound is Mikhail Baryshnikov.
In a perfect afternoon for visual and performing arts lovers, enjoy Robert Weingarten’s exhibition of biographical portraits, then sit back and enjoy a stimulating conversation between dance company artistic directors John Heginbotham (New York’s Dance Heginbotham) and John Welker (Atlanta’s Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre) as they discuss Heginbotham’s work with the legendary dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov and compare notes on the always-on-the-move world of choreography.
During the 2 pm to 3:30 pm program, Welker will serve as moderator as Heginbotham discusses working with Misha (Baryshnikov) and how he as a choreographer creates stories through movement.
During another program segment, Heginbotham will get the audience itself moving with a phrase of movement he choreographed for Baryshnikov.
Q&A will conclude the program.
After the program, enjoy our free Something Special Sunday Presented by Marilyn Ginsberg Eckstein reception featuring baked treats and lemonade, meet fellow audience members and take a look at the ICONS exhibition with curator Tony Casadonte in the gallery to share insights and answer your questions.
Previous Events at the Breman Museum - ICONS
Sunday June 25 – Kendall Rae Johnson
Connecting “aGROWKulture” with Arts & Culture
Kendall Rae Johnson the amazing 8-year-old along with her mother Ursula present the story of how 6-year-old Kendall became the youngest certified farmer in the State of Georgia. They will give tips on growing your own edible garden for urban to suburban gardens.
aGROWKulture pronounced as (ay, grō /ˈkəlCHər/), is the first urban farm located in the soul of Southwest Atlanta specializing in ag-education within conservation and sustainability. It’s owned by “The Youngest Certified Farmer In the state of Georgia” Kendall Rae Johnson and operated by her mom and dad.
This program is inspired by the portrait of Alice Waters, an American chef famous for her role in creating the farm-to-table restaurant movement, and founder of the Edible Schoolyard Project, an organization dedicated to the transformation of public education by using organic school gardens, kitchens, and cafeterias to teach both academic subjects and the values of nourishment, stewardship, and community, in the ICONS, Selections from The Portrait Unbound, Photography by Robert Weingarten currently on display.
Sunday June 25
Rip, Snip, Glue – Collage Art Workshop
Discover the collage photography of Robert Weingarten, then create your own colorful collage art.
For parents and children aged 6+.
Starting at 1 PM your instructor, Jane Leavey will take participants through the ICONS Selections from The Portrait Unbound, Photography by Robert Weingarten exhibition and encourage everyone to discover the images in the collage portraits. She will then provide materials and guide the class in the creation of their own colorful collage portraits.
The exhibition: ICONS: Selections from the Portrait Unbound, featuring the photography of Bob Weingarten, has received glowing press and exposure. Below are descriptions and links to the content from local public radio WABE, ArtsATL and the Atlanta Journal and Consitution and an earlier review from Rough Draft Atlanta.
WABE – City Lights
Bob Weingarten speaks with Summer Evans in this 24 minute interview. Discussing his personal history and his work currently on-view at the Breman Museum in Midtown Atlanta. To hear the entire discussion follow this link the the WABE website.
ArtsATL and The Atlanta Journal and Constitution
A review of the exhibition, written by Robert Stalker can be found on the ArtsATL website (May 11, 2023) and also republished on the Atlanta Journal and Constitution website (May 12, 2023 – Paywall to view AJC content)
Rough Draft Atlanta
An additional review of the exhibition, written by Isadora Pennington can be found on the Rough Draft Atlanta website (April 12, 2023) at this link.
ArtsATL
A preview of the “Dance Talk” was published July 12th in ArtsATL.org. The program led by John Weljer with special guest John Heginbotham discuss their upcoming conversation about ballet great Mikhail Baryshnikov. ArtsATL website (July 12, 2023).
