Franz Kafka, Shirley Chisholm, and a band of women photographers from the Hudson River Valley may seem like strange bedfellows, but their collective passions warmed up the cold winter days for this reviewer.
Franz Kafka at the Morgan
The Morgan Library & Museum remains a mainstay of culture in New York City, so it’s no surprise that Franz Kafka’s journey should come to rest here.Oxford’s Bodleian Library has loaned its extraordinary holdings of literary manuscripts, correspondence, postcards, diaries, videos, and photographs related to Kafka, including his original novella The Metamorphosis. Tragically the writer died in 1924 from tuberculosis at the age of 40, advising his best friend Max Broad to burn all his works. Luckily, it was Broad, who in 1939 managed to escape from the Nazis with his friend’s “wonderful treasures” for posterity.
Kafka’s afterlife weighs prominently in the exhibit, with examples of those inspired by his works. One such surprise is Andy Warhol’s portrait of Kafka, part of his 1980 series Ten Portraits of Jews of the Twentieth Century. The children’s book Kafka & The Doll by Rebecca Green was inspired by a historical account of his encounter with a young girl who had lost her doll. Kafka then sends the child postcards from her little companion, who was “simply away traveling.”
Kafka’s desire was to “race through the nights with my pen.” We can be grateful this extraordinary sprinter became a long-distance runner by the end.
Changing the Face of Democracy – Shirley Chisholm at 100
To commemorate the centennial of the birth of Shirley Chisholm (1924–2005), the Museum of the City of New York and the Shirley Chisholm Project at Brooklyn College is presenting the first major museum exhibition on the life and legacy of this pathbreaking politician and New Yorker.
“Unbought and Unbossed” was Chisholm’s campaign slogan when she became the first Black woman to run for president on a major party ticket in 1972. The exhibition explores Chisholm’s life, from her early years in Brooklyn and Barbados, her 1964 election to the New York State Legislature, her 1968 election to Congress. to her lasting and indelible impact on U.S. politics. She was feisty and futuristic, believing we should measure ourselves by our potential rather than our achievements.
Her issues included education and childcare, rights for migrants and workers, abortion access, and racial and gender equality. If that sounds familiar, it should, as the likes of recent presidential contender Kamala Harris and thousands of others took their cue from this remarkable woman. Here’s a favorite Chisholm quote to share: “If they don’t give you a seat at the table, bring a folding chair.”
Women Photographers Collective of the Mid-Hudson Valley
The Vanda Gallery in New Rochelle (a half-hour train ride from Manhattan) has mounted a memorably vibrant photo exhibit. This is only the most recent of shows for the collective since Kay Kenny founded the group in 2020. It was during the Covid crisis when the women held regular Zoom meetings. “We were all feeling a sense of isolation,” she said. Since that time, the group has steadily grown, embracing the diversity of the profession but the camaraderie as well.
From celebrated to emerging artists of the lens, their talent is unmistakable. Nature plays a major role, whether in Kelly Sinclair’s mystical churchyard or a rainy night on Fifth Avenue by Susan Phillips. Beauty at close range is evident in Gail Alpert’s April Morning Frost. Maria Fernanda Hubeaut’s nude study becomes a surreal meditation on the urban environment. And Meryl Meisler must have taken inspiration from the likes of Weegee and Diane Arbus with her troupe of Ringling Brothers performers.
Such singular visions have merged in a collective mission, transcending gender and outdated impressions of what photography can be.
Author Bio:
Sandra Bertrand is Highbrow Magazine’s chief art critic.
For Highbrow Magazine
Photo Credits: Abstraction, Susan Phillips; Fifth Avenue, Susan Phillips; Performer Poodles, Ringling Bros., Barnum & Bailey, NYC, 1977, Meryl Meisler; The dream (El Sueno) The City Object of Meditation Body of Work, Maria Fernanda Hubeaut; Wikimedia Commons.
