Dreaming in Black and White

This exhibition celebrates the centenary of the birth of prominent art dealer Julien Levy (1906–1981), one of the most influential and colorful proponents of modern art and photography and an impassioned champion of Surrealism, with a survey of his collection of photographs. Levy's lifelong devotion to the art of photography is represented in more than 230 photographs, many of which are being exhibited for the first time in more than five decades. In conjunction with the exhibition, the Museum is presenting a series of films made by artists affiliated with the Julien Levy Gallery.

Exhibition Minutes

A centenary survey of Levy's collection… var f_divname="mp3player"; var f_width=133; var f_height=100; var f_file="Dreaming the Collection,Dreaming Stieglitz,Dreaming Urban Photography,Dreaming Anti-Graphic"; var f_filetype="exhibitionMinutes"; var f_title="The Collection,Stieglitz,Urban Photography,Anti-Graphic"; Listen to or download curators Katherine Ware & Peter Barberie's 4-part Podcast. Available in Works by more than sixty photographers exhibited by Levy are represented, including American masters Walker Evans, George Platt Lynes, Lee Miller, Man Ray, Charles Sheeler, and Ralph Steiner. Artists working in France and Germany are particularly well represented, including Henri Cartier-Bresson, Dora Maar, Roger Parry, Maurice Tabard, László Moholy-Nagy, and Umbo. Mexican artists Manuel Álvarez Bravo and Emilio Amero round out the international roster. One of the pleasures of the exhibition is work by little-known artists
Arthur Gerlach, Samuel Gottscho, William Rittase, Thurman Rotan, and Luke Swank. Levy's collection also includes a cache of ephemeral pictures of every sort, from bygone celebrity portraits and press photos to film stills and everyday snapshots. While he honored the tradition of serious artistic work fostered by Alfred Stieglitz and others, these photographs clearly show he also valued anonymous images and "found objects." Another of Levy's interests—applied photography—is represented in the exhibition in several of its aspects. Examples are on view from the selection of photomurals he organized for the Museum of Modern Art's 1932 exhibition Murals by American Painters and Photographers. Levy also developed a sample line of household products decorated with photographic designs—including wastebaskets, lamps, and cigarette boxes—with the idea of providing images for textiles and a variety of manufactured goods. Other images were presumably made for advertising or graphic design use, and while their intended context may be lost to us, they stand alone as strong images. One of Levy's most famous exhibitions at the gallery was the 1932 show Surréalisme (at the time, he felt that the word could not be translated properly into English). Levy's offering of Surrealist works, the first to be presented in New York, included paintings, objects, journals, and photographs. While some of the photographs were by artists closely affiliated with the Surrealist movement in Europe, Levy added pieces by those he considered American Surrealists and by others whose work he felt resonated with Surrealist ideas. "Surrealism is a point of view, and as such applies to painting, literature, play, behaviour, politics, architecture, photography, and cinema." — Julien Levy, Surrealism, 1936 Selections from Levy's survey exhibitions, including American Photography Retrospective; Photographs of New York by New York Photographers; and Exhibition of Portrait Photography, Old and New are on view in conjunction with works that appeared in solo and group exhibitions at the gallery in the 1930s and early 1940s. A highlight of the exhibition is three small boxes by American assemblage artist Joseph Cornell, made to emulate daguerreotypes, an early form of photography. These magnificent objects are one-of-a-kind, made especially for Levy and including portraits of him and his first mother-in-law, Mina Loy. Also on view at the Museum for the first time is a bronze portrait of Levy by sculptor Isamu Noguchi. Letters and photographs documenting the gallery's heyday (on loan from the Julien Levy Archive) further enliven the exhibition. The works of art in Dreaming in Black and White are drawn from more than 2,500 images from Levy's holdings, acquired by the Museum in 2001; in part as a gift from Levy's widow, Jean Farley Levy, and with a major contribution from longtime Philadelphia residents and philanthropists Lynne and Harold Honickman. A combination of his personal selections amassed over two decades and the remaining inventory from the gallery, these images reflect Levy's adventurous eye and his vanguard contributions to the field of photography.

Film Series

Film at the Julien Levy Gallery

Like photography, film was integral to the conception of the Julien Levy Gallery. In conjuction with the exhibition Dreaming in Black and White: Photography at the Julien Levy Gallery, film programs are being presented on three Friday evenings in June and July. All shows begin at 7:00 p.m. in the Van Pelt Auditorium and are free with Museum admission, although tickets are required.

• Program One: Photographer-Filmmakers
  June 30
  Total running time: 1 hour, 32 minutes The short films in this program were all made by photographers whose work is included in this exhibition. These highly experimental films range from formalist pieces by Ralph Steiner, Francis Bruguiére, and László Moholy-Nagy to social narratives by Paul Strand, Charles Sheeler, and Jay Leyda. Walker Evans' film notes from his 1932 trip to Tahiti are evocative of those narratives, but are not organized into a linear story. His lyrical imagery parallels the Surrealist films by Julien Levy and Joseph Cornell. Cornell is something of an exception in this group: he never made photographs himself, but he incorporated photography into many of his works. Similarly, in his films he often used found footage such as the film of a sinking ship in Jack's Dream. At least two of these films were shown at the Julien Levy Gallery. Levy organized the American premiere of Moholy-Nagy's Lichtspiel schwarz-weiss-grau in 1932, and he screened Leyda's Bronx Morning at his gallery during the 1932 exhibition Surréalisme. Film Program
  
  
  • Ralph Steiner, H2O, 1929 (14 minutes)
  • Francis Bruguière and Oswell Blakeston, Light Rhythms, 1930 (5 minutes)
  • Man Ray, Emak Bakia, 1926 (20 minutes)
  • László Moholy-Nagy, Lichtspiel schwarz-weiss-grau, 1930 (6 minutes)
  • Joseph Cornell, Jack's Dream, 1930s (6 minutes)
  • Julien Levy, Portrait de Max Ernst, c. 1930 (12 minutes)
  • Walker Evans, Travel Notes, 1932 (12 minutes)
  • Paul Strand and Charles Sheeler, Manhatta, 1920 (6 minutes)
  • Jay Leyda, A Bronx Morning, 1931 (11 minutes)

• Program Two: Avant-Garde Circles
  July 14
  Total running time: 1 hour, 31 minutes
  From 1927 on, Julien Levy was friends with many of the leading European artists and writers of his time. His participation in avant-garde circles is seen in the 1947 Hans Richter film Dreams That Money Can Buy, a surrealist dream story that features a cameo appearance by Levy, and includes segments contributed by Max Ernst, Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, Fernand Leger, and Alexander Calder. As a prelude to this feature-length film we will also show an earlier, more technically experimental film by Richter, Rhythmus 21, and Marcel Duchamp's famous film Anémic Cinéma, which Levy screened at his gallery in 1936 and 1938. Duchamp's film features circles of another sort: rotating discs printed with mesmerizing patterns and his well-known puns. Film Program
  
  
  • Hans Richter, Rhythmus 21, 1921 (4 minutes)
  • Marcel Duchamp, Anémic Cinema, 1924–26 (7 minutes)
  • Hans Richter, Dreams that Money Can Buy, 1947 (1 hour, 20 minutes)
• Program Three: Hollywood Idols
  July 28
  Total running time: 1 hour, 51 minutes
  Julien Levy considered photography and film among the most important artistic mediums of the modern period, but he also loved popular photography and movies. This can be seen in his fascinating collections of press photos, movie stills, and bygone celebrity portraits on view in the exhibition. It is also evident in his taste for Hollywood productions. According to his memoirs, Levy's favorite screen starlet of the 1920s and ‘30s was Gloria Swanson, who stars in the program feature, Leo McCarey's 1931 comedy of manners, Indiscreet. Opening the program is Joseph Cornell's short film Rose Hobart, which was screened at the Julien Levy Gallery in 1936. Like Levy, Cornell loved Hollywood movies, and he worshipped certain actresses, including Miss Hobart. His 19-minute film is lovingly made with found footage from one of her films, the 1931 adventure East of Borneo, directed by George Melford. Film Program
  Screenings of these films are made possible thanks to the generous funding of the Women's Committee of the Philadelphia Museum of Art. Films are subject to change without notice. Please note: many of the films were made with handheld cameras and may cause discomfort for those sensitive to motion.
  • Joseph Cornell, Rose Hobart, 1936 (19 minutes)
  • Indiscreet, 1931 (Leo McCarey film starring Gloria Swanson, 1 hour, 32 minutes)