Maurice Berger

The first title in Aperture’s Vision & Justice Book Series—featuring a collection of award-winning short essays by Maurice Berger that explore the intersections of photography, race, and visual culture. Created and coedited by Drs. Sarah Lewis, Leigh Raiford, and Deborah Willis, the series reexamines and redresses historical narratives of photography, race, and justice. Edited by Marvin Heiferman, Race Stories: Essays on the Power of Images examines the transformational role photography plays in shaping ideas and attitudes about race and how photographic images have been instrumental in both perpetuating and combating racial stereotypes. Written between 2012 and 2019 and first presented as a monthly feature on the New York Times Lens blog, Berger’s incisive essays help readers see a bigger picture about race through storytelling. By directing attention to the most revealing aspects of images, Berger makes complex issues comprehensible, vivid, and engaging. The essays illuminate a range of images, issues, and events: the modern civil rights movement; African American–, Latinx–, Asian American–, and Native American photography; and pivotal moments in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries when race, photography, and visual culture intersected. They also examine the full spectrum of photographic imaging: from amateur to professional pictures, from snapshots to fine art, from mugshots to celebrated icons of photojournalism. Race Stories collects together Berger’s reader-friendly essays in their breadth and brilliance to encourage a broad range of readers to look at and think about photographs in order to better understand themselves and the diverse world around them. Copublished by Aperture and the New York Times.

An engaging exploration of the relationship between avant-garde art and American network television from the 1940s through the 1970s The aesthetics and concepts of modern art have influenced American television ever since its inception in the 1930s. In return, early television introduced the public to the latest trends in art and design. This engaging catalogue comprehensively examines the way avant-garde art shaped the look and content of network television in its formative years, from the 1940s through the mid-1970s. It also addresses the larger cultural and social context of television. Artists, fascinated with the new medium and its technological possibilities, contributed to network programs and design campaigns, appeared on television to promote modern art, and explored, critiqued, or absorbed the new medium in their work. More than 150 illustrations reveal both sides of the dialogue between high art and television through a selection of graphic designs, ephemera, and stills from important television programs—from The Twilight Zone to Batman to Rowan & Martin’s Laugh-In, and more—as well as works by artists including Salvador Dalí, Lee Friedlander, Agnes Martin, Man Ray, Andy Warhol, and many others. Revolution of the Eye uncovers the cultural history of a medium whose powerful influence on our lives remains pervasive. Published in association with the Jewish Museum, New York, and the Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore CountyExhibition Schedule:Jewish Museum, New York (05/01/15–09/27/15)Museum of Art at Ft. Lauderdale, Nova Southeastern University (10/25/15–01/10/16)Addison Gallery of American Art (04/09/16–07/31/16)Center for Art, Design and Visual Culture, University of Maryland, Baltimore County (10/20/16–01/08/17)The Smart Museum, University of Chicago (02/16/17–06/11/17)

Through five photographic styles—commercial product shot, scientific photo, portrait and epic narrative—New York artist Dana Hoey documents a world of primitive living conditions, under five different weather conditions: ash, freeze, thaw, flood and drought. Instruments of survival, such as the flashlight and the compass, populate these extreme situations.

Published on the hundredth anniversary of The Jewish Museum, this magnificent book explores the culture, history, and beliefs of the Jewish people by presenting an extraordinary selection of works from the Museum’s renowned collection This beautifully illustrated book explores the culture, history, and beliefs of the Jewish people by presenting an extraordinary selection of works from the collection of The Jewish Museum, New York. Ranging from antiquity to the present day, these artworks and ritual objects include a fourth-century glass vessel and ancient burial plaques; exquisite Torah decorations and marriage contracts; stunningly ornate Hanukkah lamps and spice containers; beautiful paintings and prints by such artists as Moritz Daniel Oppenheim, Marc Chagall, and Ben Shahn; striking contemporary works by Leonard Baskin, Sol LeWitt, George Segal, Diane Arbus, Richard Avedon, and many others; and selections of video and still images from television and film, ranging from documentaries and dramas to situation comedies. Two introductory essays discuss the history and significance of The Jewish Museum, followed by a superb range of artworks grouped thematically in categories such as memory and history; spirituality and faith; society, politics, and community; text and representation; and television and culture. Each work is accompanied by a short essay providing description and interpretation. Together the reproductions and lively text tell the fascinating story of how Jewish culture has evolved through the centuries and across continents.

The acclaimed work that debunks our myths and false assumptions about race in AmericaMaurice Berger grew up hypersensitized to race in the charged environment of New York City in the sixties. His father was a Jewish liberal who worshiped Martin Luther King, Jr.; his mother a dark-skinned Sephardic Jew who hated black people. Berger himself was one of the few white kids in his Lower East Side housing project. Berger's unusual experience--and his determination to examine the subject of race for its multiple and intricate meanings--makes White Lies a fresh and startling book. Berger has become a passionate observer of race matters, searching out the subtle and not-so-subtle manifestations of racial meaning in everyday life. In White Lies, he encourages us to reckon with our own complex and often troubling opinions about race. The result is an uncommonly honest and affecting look at race in America today--free of cant, surprisingly entertaining, unsettled and unsettling.