David Levinthal: Photographs 1972–2016 October 14, 2017–February 19, 2018
David Levinthal, Untitled, from the series Wild West, 1994, dye diffusion transfer print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of an anonymous donor. © David Levinthal
David Levinthal, Untitled, from the series Space, 2007, dye diffusion transfer print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of an anonymous donor. © David Levinthal
David Levinthal, Untitled, from the series Hitler Moves East, 1974, gelatin silver print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Michael Levinthal. © David Levinthal
Devid Levinthal, Untitled, from the series Modern Romance, 1983, internal dye diffusion transfer print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of Donald S. Rosenfeld. © David Levinthal
David Levinthal, Untitled, from the series Baseball, 2003, dye diffusion transfer print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of an anonymous donor. © David Levinthal
David Levinthal, Untitled, from the series American Beauty, 1989, dye diffusion transfer print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of an anonymous donor. © David Levinthal
David Levinthal, Untitled, from the series Passion, 2005, dye diffusion transfer print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of an anonymous donor. © David Levinthal
David Levinthal, Untitled, from the series Space, 2007, dye diffusion transfer print, the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, gift of an anonymous donor. © David Levinthal
New York–based photographer David Levinthal uses staged photographs of toys and other everyday objects to bring viewers face-to-face with themes central to American history, identity, and consciousness. David Levinthal: Photographs 1972–2016 provides a rich overview of the artist’s work.
Through the iconography of mass-produced toys, dolls, and figurines, Levinthal’s photographs have probed the myth of the American West; World War II and the Holocaust; romantic and sexual desire; racial stereotyping; the heroism of sport; and the futuristic fantasy of space exploration. The images range from intimately scaled prints, to large 20-by-24-inch Polaroids, to monumental inkjet prints.
Evoking the visual language of photojournalism, pornography, television, film, and religious art, the photographs elicit a response not to the actual moment or event or object, but to the place it holds in a collective American consciousness. For example, Levinthal (born 1949) said that the images in his “Wild West” series depict “the West that never was but will always be.”
David Levinthal: Photographs 1972–2016 celebrates a gift to the MFAH of 44 Levinthal works. Donated by Donald Rosenfeld, John A. MacMahon, and an anonymous donor, the photographs are on view alongside a selection of Levinthal images already held by the Museum. The exhibition presents a chronological look at the artist’s major series: “Bad Barbie,” “Hitler Moves East,” “Modern Romance,” “Wild West,” “American Beauties,” “Space,” “Passion,” “Mein Kampf,” “Blackface,” “Baseball,” “XXX,” “Netsuke,” and “Hockey.”
This exhibition is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston.
Generous support is provided by Sanders Morris Harris Group.