FACES: European Portrait Photography since 1990

This exhibition examines conspicuous developments in European portrait photography since 1990. It identifies a trend towards focusing on the individual in relation to his or her social and cultural environment. History, memory, politics, and the subject’s home area (city or country) all play a part. These developments in the genre have occurred against the background of the rapid transformation of European life wrought by globalisation, migration, the advent of the Internet, and economic unification – all changes that have focused attention on the concept of ‘identity’.

The photographers and visual artists selected for this exhibition are generally keenly aware of the continent’s rich, centuries-old tradition of portrait painting. They sometimes make deliberate reference to it or play around with historical conventions in their work. Whereas portraits have traditionally featured people of high social class or occupying important positions within society, these modern portraitists often choose to depict ordinary men and women involved in their everyday lives. However varied their work may be, its common feature is their compassionate, humanistic view of their subjects.

The typological portrait series produced by photographer and visual artist Thomas Ruff in the late eighties (part of which is shown here) played a pivotal role in the development of the genre. Ruff divested the portrait of all its externalities, turning it into a pure visual image.

Starting from this tabula rasa, countless other photographers have sought new forms and new approaches to the genre over the last twenty-five years.

Photographers: Tina Barney, Sergey Bratkov, Koos Breukel, Clegg & Guttmann, Anton Corbijn, Christian Courrèges, Denis Darzacq, Luc Delahaye, Rineke Dijkstra, Jitka Hanzlová, Konstantinos Ignatiadis, Alberto García-Alix, Stratos Kalafatis, Boris Mikhailov, Nikos Markou, Hellen van Meene, Jorge Molder, Lucia Nimcova, Adam Pańczuk, Dita Pepe, Anders Petersen, Paola De Pietri, Jorma Puranen, Thomas Ruff, Clare Strand, Beat Streuli, Thomas Struth, Juergen Teller, Ari Versluis & Ellie Uyttenbroek, Stephan Vanfleteren, Manfred Willmann

Curator: Frits Gierstberg

Advisory board: Vangelis Ioakimidis, Olga Sviblova, Gautier Platteau, Christophe De Jaeger, Alexandra Athanasiadou

Coproduction: BOZAR - Palais des Beaux-Arts Brussels, Nederlands Fotomuseum Rotterdam, Thessaloniki Museum of Photography

Opening: 3/10/2015, 20:00

Organized by the Museum of Photography Thessaloniki