The Online Photographer

Ah, lists. Always fraught.

"T," the New York Times Style magazine, recently gathered seven photography- and art-world luminaries and asked them to create a new article for the magazine's series of articles of 25 this-that-and-t'other things. Other entries include "The 25 Most Defining Pieces of Furniture From the Last 100 Years," "The 25 Essential Pasta Dishes to Eat in Italy" and so forth. The panel was charged with picking "The 25 Photos That Defined The Modern Age." The cutoff was 1955—that is, photos from the last 69 years. The panel consisted of "the Canadian conceptual photographer Stan Douglas, 63; the Vietnamese American photographer An-My Lê, 64; the acting chief curator of Photography at the Museum of Modern Art, Roxana Marcoci, 66; the American documentary photographer Susan Meiselas, 75; the American photographer Shikeith, 35; and Nadia Vellam, 51, T’s photo and video director."

It's going to sound like I have more to criticize than praise, which I guess is true. But don't dismiss the article, because it has value. Any time you get intelligent people together to talk about pictures, we're bound to both enjoy it and to learn something.

But here we go. Without devoting a single picture to the most important political current in America since 1980—the rise of the far right—the seven gave precedence to political significance almost exclusively. A bit odd in a publication about style, but never mind. They did hit some of the legitimate high points, naming some very famous photographs that both work visually and are undoubtedly iconic—Earthrise, Falling Man, the hooded prisoner at Abu Graib, Tank Man, Tomoko in her Bath (which they decided they can't show—it's at Wikipedia in case it's not burned on the retina of your memory). But some of their other choices are puzzling to say the least. The panel were deeply concerned about Black culture and the Black struggle, reflected in fully nine choices out of the 25. I won't argue with that, but two photographs by Ernest C. Withers? Neither one very good or particularly well known. I'm a big Ernie Withers fan, but...no. Several other choices come off like "viable alternatives" as well: rather than one of the many great pictures of Martin Luther King—maybe they thought he already gets plenty of coverage—or one of Malcolm X, the panel picked a faintly ludicrous portrait of Black Panther Huey P. Newton posing as the dangerous Black revolutionary. It was a moment, yes, but it looks very dated, and it's just not a great photograph. No offense, but is the Withers "I Am a Man" photo really more defining of the Civil Rights era than, say, this one? There's not one shot reflecting women's liberation or the sexual revolution. Picking Korda's portrait of Che Guevara seems a very old-fogey choice as well. I doubt one college student in a hundred today ever wears a Che T-shirt un-ironically, or could begin to tell you with any accuracy who Che was. Seriously, I'd put money on that. It seems like the choice of white-haired old hippies who obsess about different kinds of electric guitars. Not that there's anything wrong with that.

Nan Goldin, the safest edgy photographer ever, makes her mandatory appearance. Saw that coming. I've learned that I shouldn't have anything to say about her as I'm male and white, and okay. But I will note that this is the only time in history that the Broomberg & Chanarin inclusion will appear on any list of the best photos that define anything, much less the top 25 pictures of the past 69 years. It is, rather, the pick that embodies the inherent difficulty of list-making. I also wasn't comfortable with the choices by artists who are closer to my own wheelhouse—they picked a second-tier Arbus, not the best of Salgado's pictures even from just the Serra Pelada gold mine work (either of these two are better), and there are literally a thousand better Friedlanders.

Although may I just say I'm totally on board with the Gordon Parks. Love love love that one and have for years. Dignity under the thumb of indignity, oppression and grace in one tight frame. I'd write the entry for that one.

All in all it comes off as two dissonant lists superimposed on each other. One a list of iconic photos that define the last 69 years in the United States, as the article title says, and the other a list promoting to our attention some lesser-known works of left-leaning (one might say currently politically correct) sociopolitical significance. The panel experienced some difficulties—reportedly, lack of consensus, not enough time, the usual complaints one might expect—but I think a lack of clarity about the mission might have been the biggest problem. To propose that a Wolfgang Tillmans fashion shot showing different types of camouflage worn for stylish effect is in any way the equivalent of Thích Quảng Đức's self-immolation on that Saigon street (and why choose an alternate frame from that event?), or that Stuart Franklin's photo of the transcendently brave and undoubtedly doomed Tank Man is consonant with a random Beyoncé album cover from two years ago, is...well, daft.

So just don't take it that way. Just look at it as twenty-five more or less disparate choices of pictures that drew the attention of an interesting and varied panel of experts, and hear what they have to say and why. I'm here for that any day.

Mike

Original contents copyright 2024 by Michael C. Johnston and/or the bylined author. All Rights Reserved. Links in this post may be to our affiliates; sales through affiliate links may benefit this site. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases. (To see all the comments, click on the "Comments" link below or on the title of this post.)

Featured Comments from:

Curt Gerston: "I had a very similar reaction when reading through that article. I was both really intrigued and interested in their choices, and completely baffled. The question, which photos define the modern age, was more interesting to think about than their final choices. Even the choice of what years would be included as 'modern' was curious, of course. It would be interesting to see what photos the readers of TOP would nominate. For me, at least with Salgado, I would’ve chosen his photo of the firefighter at the burning oil field."

Terry Letton: "'25 photos that define the modern age.' Now there is a white whale!"

Rick: "You are not alone in your thinking—thought much the same as I read the article. Way too much 'social consciousness' guiding the process."

Kenneth Tanaka: "'The 25 Photos That Defined the Modern Age': Hardly! That's quite a hyperbolic title for this roundtable list. Of course there is no list that could fulfill such a specification. But at least it's a seed for a photography discussion! Thanks for the heads-up on this piece, Mike. I had not seen it."

Steve Renwick: "At least they didn't say, 'You won't believe #14! It's genius!' Some made me think, 'Oh yeah, seen it,' some 'OK, hadn't seen that before,' and some, 'WTF?' The leftie nod to political correctness was as inevitable as the flags-baseball-and-cute-kids theme from a collection of LIFE magazine images. It was worth seeing."

Stan B.: "Get a different group of 'experts,' get a different group of photos. Get the very same group of experts on a different day, get a different group of photos...."