Photography

Compelling photographs taken by renowned 20th-century American poet Allen Ginsberg (1926–1997) of himself and his fellow Beat poets are the subject of the first scholarly exhibition and catalogue of these works. New York University’s Grey Art Gallery will present Beat Memories: The Photographs of Allen Ginsberg, which includes portraits of literary luminaries such as William S. Burroughs, Neal Cassady, Gregory Corso, and Jack Kerouac, on view from January 15 through April 6, 2013. Organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, and curated by senior curator of photographs Sarah Greenough, the exhibition features 94 black-and-white works—many accompanied by Ginsberg’s intimate, handwritten captions—that convey the spontaneity, freedom, and exuberant lifestyle of the Beat Generation.

The Grey Art Gallery at New York University announces the first major museum retrospective of works by Tseng Kwong Chi (1950–1990), a prolific artist and key documentarian of Manhattan’s downtown scene in the 1980s. On view April 21 through July 11, 2015, the exhibition features over 80 photo-based works alongside archival materials by the Hong Kong–born Canadian artist, who died in 1990 at the age of 39 from AIDS–related complications. In addition to twelve works from the artist’s best-known East Meets West and Expeditionary series, as well as nine images of his close friend Keith Haring’s drawings in New York city subways, Tseng Kwong Chi: Performing for the Camera presents over 60 examples from less well-known bodies of work.