Photographs are, as the theorist Roland Barthes wrote, “certificates of presence”: verification that a moment, a person, or a place existed. From the adoration of a loved one or the wonder felt before nature to the hardship of labor or the devastation of war, photographs can be imprinted with the totality of human experiences. Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder embraces that totality, examining the deeply humanistic history of photography through seven thematic sections. 

This exhibition comprises approximately 100 photographs by around 70 artists, exploring the concept of presence through the tenderness of portraits, the awe within landscapes, the clarity of reportage, and the spontaneity of cityscapes. These photographs emote, connecting us to the lives of others in unfamiliar places or circumstances. Representing some of the last century’s most important photographic developments, from Pictorialism and social documentary photography to Surrealism and street photography, works by artists including Merry Alpern, Richard Avedon, Anne Brigman, Irving Bennett Ellis, Dorothea Lange, Alma Lavenson, Danny Lyon, Sally Mann, Susan Meiselas, Inge Morath, Gordon Parks, Edward Steichen, Joyce Tenneson, James Van Der Zee, and Todd Webb come together in unique and unexpected ways. Presence creates conversations across time and space that are only possible through Glickman Lauder’s singular collection.

These “certificates of presence” encompass a complex, sophisticated affirmation of humanity and the experiences of joy, love, faith, grief, cruelty, pain, excitement, justice, and wonder. They also raise questions that tap into our emotional lives. What accounts for photography’s persistent power? How does it access our most intimate experiences? What makes us continue to look, and what are we hoping to find when we do?