Let the Good Times Roll

AUGUST 8  – SEPTEMBER 26, 2015

The exhibition is a celebration of the joy found in life’s perhaps small, yet happiest moments. Seen through the camera lens, these instances are decisively captured and expertly composed offering a photographer’s perspective on timeless and exuberant moments. Although light-hearted in nature, the photographers have all contributed to the evolution of the history of photography through their various depictions of people often in the midst of their daily lives.

ABOUT THE EXHIBITION

The exhibition is a celebration of the joy found in life’s perhaps small, yet happiest moments. Seen through the camera lens, these instances are decisively captured and expertly composed offering a photographer’s perspective on timeless and exuberant moments. Although light-hearted in nature, the photographers have all contributed to the evolution of the history of photography through their various depictions of people often in the midst of their daily lives.

The images included in the exhibition relate to the fundamental kinds of pleasure inherent and perhaps universal within all people across time: Jacques Henri Lartigue’s image taken in 1911 of a couple in a mechanized bobsled is an early instance of the enjoyment to be found in playing with a new amusement. A scene captured by Brassai from the early 1930s shows a friendly group partially reflected in a mirror that are content with a late night drink in a Parisian bar. The intimacy that couples can enjoy in the arms of one another is apparent in Robert Doisneau’s 1950 image of lovers stealing a kiss in a wheelbarrow. Sabine Weiss’s image from 1952 of children playing street games in France decisively demonstrates the easy thrills and playfulness found in youths. Harry Benson’s famously ebullient image from 1964 of the Beatles in the midst of a celebratory pillow fight expertly captures their mischievous delight.

Taken as a whole, the images in “Let the Good Times Roll” remain an essential part of our visual history reflecting the importance of remembering the beauty found throughout day-to-day life while also creating joy within the very viewers of the images. It is a show that celebrates the pleasures of being human.

INSTALLATIONS