Light Forms: Modern American Photography from the Colby Museum

Location

Space

Dates

Nathan Lerner

Black-and-white surrealist photograph featuring a single, detailed human eye suspended near the center of a dark, geometric composition. Thin, bright white lines crisscross vertically and horizontally across the black space, anchoring and framing the floating eyeball.

This approach amounted to a new way of seeing, a new vision. The artists represented in this exhibition questioned the truthfulness of images while also still believing that photography had the power to generate positive societal change. Today, in our era of digital revolution and artificial intelligence, images are similarly everywhere. May our questioning and hope also spread.

Light Forms: Modern American Photography from the Colby Museum is curated by Sarah Humphreville, Lunder Curator of American Art, with Henry Merges, Anne Lunder Leland Curatorial Fellow.

Selected Works

Carlotta M. Corpron

Black-and-white still life photograph depicting transparent geometric cubes resting on grid-patterned and reflective glass planes. Light passes through the objects, creating sharp reflections, shadows, and linear highlights against a dark, dramatic background. Signed and dated in the lower right margin.

Nathan Lerner

Black-and-white experimental photograph capturing light motion against a dark field. Bright, energetic trails of light loop, zigzag, and curve across the composition, ranging from bold, thick white brush-like strokes to faint, delicate wisps of light.

Man Ray

Black-and-white photogram print depicting a translucent silhouette of an inverted lightbulb on the left. The bulb hovers over a dark background filled with a dense, diagonal swath of white stippling and specks resembling a night sky or galaxy. Signed "Man Ray" in the lower right of the image.

Edward Quigley

Black-and-white close-up still life photograph featuring a checkered fabric mask resting diagonally in the upper portion of the frame. In the foreground below, a spiky, spherical seed pod casts a distinct shadow across a dark, textured surface.

Charles Sheeler

Black-and-white architectural and industrial photograph showing a close view of heavy steel framework, piping, and overhead conveyers. In the background, factory buildings with tall smokestacks rise against a pale sky, emphasizing strong vertical and horizontal geometric lines.

Harold Edgerton

Black-and-white stroboscopic photograph illustrating motion through sequential exposures. A woman wearing a light blouse and patterned skirt moves from left to right while jumping rope. The repeated exposures reveal a continuous wave of her figure alongside dynamic arcs created by the moving rope against a dark background.