August Sander
The Wife of the Painter Peter Abelen
Cologne, 1926
Gelatin Silver Print
Courtesy of The Mr. and Mrs. Harrison R. Johnston Jr. Fund

Typecast

Thursday, December 22, 2011—Sunday, July 29, 2012
Star Tribune Foundation Atrium, Target Wing
Free Exhibition

Gesture, pose, dress, and environment all play crucial roles in portraiture. But what do they really tell us about their subjects? While some portraits attempt to capture the essence of a person, others intentionally portray a type. In this selection of photographs spanning over eighty years, four photographers (August Sander, Pieter Hugo, Xavier Tavera, and Richard Avedon) present different approaches to staging a portrait, each providing rich clues for viewers to fashion the nature of identity in the mind's eye.