During the summer in which the USA marks its 250th anniversary, “A Portrait of America,” an exhibition on view through this Sunday, Sept. 6 at Greenport’s Floyd Memorial Library, offers a reflection on, and of, the country.
Pictured Above: Thomas Halaczinsky, Fists Raised Forever, Women’s March, 2019.
The exhibition features twenty-one photographers who follow in the tradition of such iconic American documentary photographers as Dorothea Lange (1895–1965), Walker Evans (1903–1975) and Robert Frank (1924–2019).
Most of the participating artists live on Long Island, but the library is also honored to include images by Leonard McCombe (1923–2015) and Herbert Talerman (1925–1992), two esteemed late photographers whose families have generously loaned several of their works.
“As the title indicates, this exhibition is just one portrait of the country; there are countless others,” says Curator Sally Grant. “We hope, however, that this selection of photographs conveys the vast expanse and richness of the country, geographically, socially and culturally. Our Portrait begins in Greenport and expands across the United States. Photos date from the 1940s to the present day. New York City and its inhabitants are inevitably well represented, but the works also highlight life in different parts of the country, from Native American reservations to the landscape of the American frontier, and from urban and industrial areas to beachside towns.”
Pictured (l-r): Herbert Talerman, Near Sighted, New York City, 1940s; Nathaniel Speece-Moyer, Farm in Champaign County, Ohio, 2009; Linda K Alpern, Tiffany and Greenport Friends, 2004; Jeremy Garretson, American Girl, 2023.
Mirroring the rich kaleidoscope of the country, the exhibition expands beyond this main gallery to the adjacent corridor and study rooms, and upstairs.
In the corridor’s display cabinet, photos by Ian Wile take us on one of America’s quintessential rites of passage—the cross-country road trip. The study rooms, staged as photographers’ studios, feature works by Dennis Chalkin and Anders Goldfarb, both professional photographers with long careers in the field. Upstairs, the Faces of Greenport series by Jeremy Garretson takes viewers back to our hometown.
“Above all, the photographs in A Portrait of America capture the country’s myriad of people. They chronicle those of different colors and ethnicities; the young and the old; the haves and the have-nots; people at work and at leisure. Even in pictures of landscapes and abandoned buildings, the human presence is palpable,” says Ms. Grant. “Together, the works document a country of parades and protests; of epic landscapes and small, run-down towns; of glitz and glamour and everyday life; and of hopes and dreams, toil and disappointment.
“A documentary photograph is not a factual photograph.” —Dorothea Lange
“The truth is somewhere between the documentary and the fictional.” —Robert Frank
The Floyd Memorial Library is lcoated at 539 First Street in Greenport. Hours are 9:30 a.m. through 8 p.m. on weekdays, 9:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 1 to 5 p.m. on Sundays. Find Out More.
There are twenty-one participating photographers and one poet/artist, Peter Treiber Jr., who collaborated on a project with the photographer Estefany Molina. Many of the works on display are for sale.
Linda K Alpern
Megan Barron
David Benthal
Charlie Chalkin
Dennis Chalkin
Joyce Culver
Jeremy Dennis
Michael Drakopoulos
Anders Goldfarb
Cara Galowitz
Jeremy Garretson
Thomas Halaczinsky
Paul Henry
Leonard McCombe (1923–2015)
Estefany Molina, in collaboration with Peter Treiber Jr.
Macall Polay
Rosario Rodriguez
Nathaniel Speece-Moyer
Bill Stamatis
Herbert Talerman (1925–1992)
Ian Wile
