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Saturday, May 25, 2013

A BODY BIOGRAPHY: MATUSCHKA Photo Exhibit

reporter: Miguel Dominguez


On May 18th, Pulitzer Prize nominated Photographer Matuschka returned to the Berkshires for a 40 year retrospective at Sohn Fine Art Gallery as part of Sohn Fine Art's Master Artist Series (MAS) program, which will be on view from April 26th - July 1st, 2013.


In conjunction with the exhibition, a public artist's presentation and book signing will be held at Berkshire Museum in Pittsfield, MA on June 22, 2:30 pm. Matushcka will also teach a two-day workshop "Exploration of Image Making and Personal Expression" on June 22-23 at Berkshire Museum. One can sign up for this course at Sohn Fine Art.



Beauty Out of Damage self portrait to the right shows the mastectomy Matuschka underwent

The exhibition marks the 20th anniversary of Matuschka's landmark work, Beauty Out of Damage. A highlight of the exhibition, it is an unflinching and riveting self portrait that rocketed Matuschka to international fame when it was featured on the cover of The New York Times Sunday Magazine in 1993. When first published 20 years ago, the public's response to the image was so great that Beauty Out of Damage became one of the most controversial covers in The New York Times' history. It was for this image that Matuschka was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and was chosen Person of the Week with Peter Jennings.  When Matuschka was diagnosed with breast cancer and underwent a mastectomy, her visceral understanding of beauty in ruin and restoration came to a creative head, resulting in a body of work that gained her a role as a leading photographer and icon of the breast cancer movement.

Gallery owner/director Cassandra Sohn with Matuschka







Matuschka with her photography teacher and
mentor Clemens Kalisher




The extensive variety of work has one unifying theme running through it, "her body", whether it is her first self portrait in 1971, her "Ruins" series from the 80s, the "Modified Radical" portfolio of the 90s or the "Androgony" series post 2000.




Artist, Photographer and Activist, Matuschka has been recognized with numerous honors, citations, and awards, including the Rachel Carson Award, Gilda Radner Award, and inclusion in Life Books', One Hundred Photographs that Changed the World. Her works are held by private and public collections through out the world, including the Center for Political Graphics, Cincinnati Museum of Art, Cooper-Hewitt National Design Museum, Flemming Museum, Hallisch-Frankischen Museum, Henry Buhl Foundation, Musee de l'Elysee, National Museum of Women in the Arts, Woodstock Center for Photography and the World Press Photo Foundation. Matuschka University appearances include Harvard, Columbia, The Contemporary Museum of Art, Fort Lauderdale and The Art Cultural Center, Malaga, Spain. Selected publications include The Boston Globe, Chicago Tribune, Der Spiegel, Die Zeit, The Guardian, Glamour, MacClean's, Marie Claire, Encyclopaedia Britannica, The New York Post, Oxford University Press, The San Francisco Chronicle, Time, The Washington Post, and Vogue.





 



















Matuschka being interviewed by Edward Bride for the Berkshire Fine Arts online magazine.
Click here to read the article




Matuschka pages through her book Bagit!

Recently, she directed her attention to the present culture and what often consumes it: labels, logos and shopping by using abstraction instead of photography to express this obsession. She created a body of abstract canvasses with rope attachments based on her lively and colorful digital series called Bagit! The materials Matuschka utilizes in this new body of work are just that: empty shopping bags in which the artist has removed all branding and replaced logos and labels with fine art. Bagit!, published by Hard Press Editions, has been in stores since 2008.









Founded in 2011, by photographer and gallery director Cassandra Sohn, Sohn Fine Art is located in Stockbridge, MA, the heart of the Berkshires. The gallery specializes in contemporary photography of emerging and mid-career artists. It also offers photographic services such as  fine art archival giclee printing, photography, and photographic workshops.

A program of Sohn Fine Art, the Master Artist Series (MAS) contributes to the cultural vitality of the Berkshires by promoting photographic mediums through exhibitions, lectures, and workshops featuring world class photographers.

2013 Master Artist Series - Matuschka is made possible by its generous partner, Berkshire Museum, in Pittsfield, MA. Additional 2013 MASTER ARTIST SERIES partners include Cranwell Resort, Spa & Golf Club and Berkshire International Film Festival (BIFF).


Dinner after-party with friends made the evening extra special






To see more photos of this event, CLICK HERE

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