CONSULTANT CURATOR OF PHOTOGRAPHY, WHITNEY MUSEUM OF AMERICAN ART
The Whitney Museum of American Art began collecting photography in depth in 1991. Eight years later, Sylvia Wolf was invited to become the museum's first curator to focus solely on photography and expand its collection of twentieth-century American photographic art. At the Whitney, Wolf presented exhibitions of work by Roni Horn, Susan Meiselas, Vik Muniz, Irving Penn, Michal Rovner, and Lorna Simpson. She also initiated First Exposure, a series of exhibitions featuring photographic art by young artists.
Wolf came to the Whitney from The Art Institute of Chicago, where for more than 12 years she organized solo shows by American artist Kenneth Josephson, German artist Dieter Appelt, French artists Patrick Faigenbaum and Patrick Tosani, and an exhibition of Julia Margaret Cameron's photographs of women.
Currently, Wolf is serving as adjunct curator at the Whitney. In addition to her curatorial responsibilities, Wolf has taught studio art at the School of Visual Arts, New York, and The School of The Art Institute of Chicago, and is presently adjunct professor for Columbia University's master's degree program in Curatorial Studies. This year she will also teach courses in photography and art history at Hunter College and New York University. Wolf's honorary distinctions include the Chevalier de l'ordre des arts et des lettres, awarded by the French government for the promotion of French culture abroad.
What follows is Sylvia Wolf's story, in her own words, about her experiences as a grad student at the Rhode Island School of Design, an intern, and a curator, plus some advice and insight for students pursuing the field of photography.
From 1984-86, the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) photography department was housed in Benson Hall. During that time, the ten MFA students shared five small darkrooms on the top floor. Undergrads shared a darkroom on the second floor. Required courses included a weekly graduate critique and a seminar in critical theory. The department also offered classes in alternative processes and new media. Gary Metz was the head of the graduate division. William (Billy) Parker was an adjunct/visiting professor. Wendy Snyder MacNeil taught seniors, but was also available to graduate students.
In addition to the RISD faculty, we had access to five professionals each year who came to RISD for a week as part of the Visiting Artist Program. Through this program I met Andy Grundberg, Duane Michals, and the late Carol Kismaric, with whom I later developed friendships and working relationships. Having individual critiques with visiting artists was a formative experience. So, too, was serving as a teaching assistant in the Freshman Art History seminar led by Baruch Kirschenbaum, Elizabeth Grossman, and Ned Dwyer. Those initial interactions with students proved to me that teaching is a form of learning, and I have been learning from students ever since.
Last, but most importantly, was what I learned from fellow photography graduate students. One measure of a strong graduate program is when students learn as much from each other as they do from their professors. This was certainly the case with our class—a particularly lively, vocal, and committed group. I have stayed in touch with several fellow students and am amazed at how many have gone on to make significant contributions to the field as artists, educators, historians, masters of their craft, and innovators of new technology.
In the spring of my final year at RISD, Billy Parker suggested I apply for a curatorial internship with The Friends of Photography, a membership organization founded by Ansel Adams that had an exhibition space and offices in Carmel, California. I spent much of the next year in Carmel learning about how The Friends' exhibitions and membership publications were made.
Near the conclusion of my internship, I wrote a letter of inquiry to four museums that had significant collections of photography, asking if they had a position open in their curatorial departments. The Art Institute of Chicago responded, and in 1987 I began working in the Department of Photography as curatorial assistant. Twelve years and over twenty-five exhibitions later, I left the Art Institute to develop an exhibition and collecting program in photography at the Whitney Museum of American Art.
To students who are graduating and are committed to being artists, I would say the following: Maintain contacts with fellow students after you finish school. It is a harsh transition to go from an academic environment, which is designed to respond to your needs, to a world where you make your art in the seclusion of your studio. Nurture relationships with people who will be tough and specific in their critiques, as well as kind and generous in their support. I am impressed with the number of young artists who have developed constituencies of their own, forming artist cooperatives and finding ways to exhibit their work outside the mainstream gallery circuit. Being a part of a community of artists will sustain you and provide a trustworthy base of support for the years ahead.
Equally important is, don't take the rejections you will receive from museums, galleries, competitions, or job inquiries personally. You have no way of knowing why your work did not dovetail with the mission or needs of a particular venue. Instead of focusing on outside responses, develop an understanding of the real reason why you are making art (because you love it is motivation enough). Use that reason as a source of energy, defiance, persistence, and discovery. And by all means, have fun. A career in the arts—whether as an artist, a curator, a professor, or a historian—can be tough. It's not worth it if you don't take pleasure in what you do.
What I like most about my job as a curator is working with artists and the images and objects they make. I am also compelled by what I don't yet know or what provokes discomfort. Often, for instance, I select exhibition ideas that will give me a chance to tackle a difficult problem or approach a subject from an unexpected angle. What follows is a fair amount of detective work. Seeking new information and rethinking known material goes hand in hand with analyzing the aesthetic characteristics of works of art. Ultimately, the goal is to make a contribution to the field.
Being a curator also involves active interaction with patrons, collectors, gallerists, and colleagues. Raising money is important work for all museum professionals. Tending to the growth and depth of the permanent collection is another crucial part of a curator's responsibilities. Happily, I enjoy all of these aspects of the job.
Photography has entered a new phase in its history with the advancement of digital imaging. There is historical precedent for this evolution. In the 1890s photography became accessible to the general public with the advent of George Eastman's Kodak No. 1 box camera. With this compact inexpensive device that came loaded with film, anyone could take pictures. Those who had no artistic training tilted the camera up, down, and to the side, often cutting off the tops of heads or omitting important details. This amateur use of the camera revealed new subjects and new forms, forever altering the way artists and the public considered photographic representation. At around the same time, the development of the halftone printing process allowed images to be reproduced and disseminated to a wide public in newspapers and, later, magazines.
Today, at the turn of another century, we are at a similar point of change. New technologies now allow people of varying levels of artistic experience to alter and transmit images to a growing number of viewers. This is a time to embrace and observe new forms as they emerge. It is also a time when historians, teachers, and artists who have expertise in photography are needed all the more—to place new work in context and to separate an initial infatuation with a process or an artist's body of work from the sober consideration of its place in the history of photography. That said, it is also a time to take risks and make leaps of faith.
My training at RISD has been a significant asset in my career as a curator and educator. It has allowed me to understand the language an artist speaks about both technical concerns and the peaks and valleys of the creative process. Although I no longer actively make photographs, I suspect I will again someday. In the meantime, working with artists and students provides a creative outlet that I feel privileged to enjoy.
