The Metropolitan Museum of Art presents Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop now through Jan 27. The urge to modify camera images is as old as photography itself—only the methods have changed. This international loan exhibition traces the history of manipulated photography from the 1840s through the early 1990s. Most of the 200 pictures on view were altered after the negative was exposed—through photomontage, combination printing, overpainting, retouching or a blend of processes. Whether modified in the service of art, politics, news, entertainment or commerce, the pictures featured in the exhibition adopt the seamlessly realistic appearance of conventional photographs. They aim to convince the eye, even if the mind rebels at the scenarios they conjure.
The most widespread, destructive, and consequential conflict in history will be the subject of WWII & NYC, a major new exhibition on view at the New-York Historical Society through May 27. Restoring to memory New York’s crucial and multifaceted role in winning the war, the exhibition will commemorate the 900,000 New Yorkers who served in the military while also exploring the many ways those on the home front contributed to the national war effort. The sprawling exhibition features more than 300 objects, including artifacts, paintings, maps, models, photographs, posters, film footage, music, radio broadcasts and newly recorded eyewitness accounts.
The New Museum of Contemporary Art presents Rosemarie Trockel: A Cosmos on view now through Jan 20. In this showcase of the mid-career German artist is an imaginary universe in which Trockel’s own artwork from the past 30 years is juxtaposed with objects and artifacts from different eras and cultures that map many of her artistic interests. Although remarkably inventive and prolific, Trockel has deflected any identifiable stylistic signature: films and videos, knit paintings, projects for children, ceramics, drawings and collages, plus a panoply of sculptures, are among the myriad forms that comprise her practice. But some constants underpin this diverse activity: feminism, tension between the amateur and professional creator, celebrity and the unknown maker.
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