Photography exhibition celebrates affect of School of Art veteran

Kamini Purushothaman, Contributing Photographer

Black and white prints of sweaty, half-naked beachgoers in 1970s and ’80s Los Angeles line the walls of the Museum of Contemporary in Westport, known as MoCA CT. 

On display for the first time on the East Coast, the exhibition, “At the Beach,” immortalizes the bodies and beaches that fill the frames. The photographer responsible for their creation is Tod Papageorge, who was the director of graduate studies in photography at the Yale School of Art from 1979–2013. 

“It makes me think of Greek friezes. It makes me think of Goya. It makes me think of ancient art that’s lost its coloring and has become monochrome,” Tanya Marcuse ART ’90, one of Papageorge’s former students, said of the exhibit.

The prints are accompanied by “In the Pool,” a collection of photographs that were all taken by students Papageorge taught. Over his 34 years at the School of Art, he instructed 295 students, according to the exhibition catalogue. 

The photographs were originally compiled into a portfolio gifted to Papageorge over a decade ago upon his retirement from the School of Art. A slideshow of all the photographs plays on an approximately 20-minute loop in a small showing room in the exhibition.

On Saturday, MoCA CT hosted a Yale alumni panel moderated by Lisa Kereszi ART ʼ00, the assistant director of graduate studies in photography at the School of Art who was responsible for organizing the exhibitions. The panel consisted of Papageorge, Marcuse, Victoria Sambunaris ART ’99 and John Pilson ART ʼ93, a senior critic in photography at the School of Art. Filling the audience were more of Papageorge’s former students.

According to Pamela Hovland ART ’93, the acting executive director of MoCA CT and a senior critic at the School of Art, Papageorge was known for his street photography, especially at Central Park and Studio 54 in the 1960s before traveling to the California beaches in the 1970s. In 1975, Papageorge went to Los Angeles and began experimenting with a medium-format camera that produced higher quality and more detailed images. 

Papageorge captured a range of scenes on the beaches of Los Angeles. From children playing together along the shoreline to naked protests advocating against the banning of nude beaches, “At the Beach” urges the viewer to take a closer look at the detailed, multi-layered images and the people they capture.

“They’re not about the beach,” Pilson said. “They’re about the music of the spheres. They’re about the human condition, gesture, the language of gesture.”

Of the nearly 300 students Papageorge taught, 41 have also gone on to receive Guggenheim Fellowships, a prestigious grant awarded to individuals who are distinguished in their field. Papageorge himself received two Guggenheim Fellowships in the 1970s. The print photographs from these 41 photographers make up the physical portion of “In the Pool.”

Hovland said that the idea to title the exhibition this way came from a room at the School of Art building colloquially referred to as “the pool” because it housed a recreational swimming pool before the building was renovated. Hovland added that “In the Pool” paired well with the “On the Beach” theme. 

“The evidence of Tod’s significance, as a teacher and photographer, is contained in these works produced by his former students, each touched at some point along the way by his ideas, brilliance and his skills,” Curran Hatleberg ART ’10, one of the Guggenheim Fellows whose photos are a part of “In the Pool,” wrote in an email to the News.

According to Andrew Borowiec ART ’82, another one of the Guggenheim Fellows, his cohort of students had a three-hour seminar every Monday. Borowiec said “the part that stayed” with him most from these seminars were Papageorge’s dialogues about various influential photographers.  In 2011, Papageorge published a book titled “Core Curriculum: Writings on Photography,” which compiled some of his essays, reviews and lectures that students had recorded. 

“Tod was always absolutely brilliant and revealing and fascinating in his discussions of this work,” Borowiec said. “I would end up having a broader and greater understanding and love of that work.”

“At the Beach” and “In the Pool” will remain on display at MoCA CT until Oct. 26.