Art Intelligence
In the Galleries At the MuseumsIda Wyman Opening at Joie de Livres
August 7 - September 25
Ida Wyman, Girl with Curlers, 1949
When Ida Wyman began taking photographs for magazines in the 1940’s, the field was dominated by men. Starting out in the mailroom at Acme Newspictures (later UPI), Wyman soon began getting assignments from Business Week, This Week, Collier’s, Life, Fortune and other major publications.
As she progressed from a box camera to Speed Graphic, her first professional camera, to a Rolleiflex, she says, “I stopped thinking about the mechanics of film speed, f.stops, shutter speed and began focusing on subject matter that interested me—ordinary people and their everyday activities, first in my own Bronx neighborhood, then in Harlem, Chinatown, and lower Manhattan.”
Wearing the camera as a shield against her shyness and appearing unthreatening in her saddle shoes and bobby socks, Wyman never had to hide from her subjects, often engaging them in conversation before she started to shoot. “I did not consciously think about why I wanted the photo at that moment except that it pleased something within me. I have thought about this many years later as a certain synchrony of heart, eye and brain.”
Her career has been devoted to promoting honest documentary photography and exploiting its power to improve society by exposing the living and working conditions of the powerless.
Joie de Livre at Salisbury Wines
Salisbury
Ida Wyman, 84, will fly in from her home in Wisconsin to attend the opening reception on Saturday, August 7, 4 - 6 p.m.
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Posted by Marilyn Bethany on 08/03/10 at 02:17 PM • Permalink
