Self / Reflection
On view in A. Charlotte Mann and Joshua Mann Pailet Gallery, this exhibition presents a selection of works from the permanent collection by Brassaï, Jaroslav Rossler, Florence Henri, Clarence John Laughlin, and others that investigate, play with, and exploit reflections and mirror images in modern photography.
The use of mirrors and reflections proliferated in modern photography between the world wars. This was a time of extensive philosophical self-reflection spurred by the growing interest in the field of psychology with Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung, and modern societies’ struggle to remodel themselves after the ravages of World War I. Global anxiety, coupled with the desire to look inward, could have provoked artists’ obsession with the mirror.
This practice was geographically and philosophically widespread. The depiction of reflections was seen throughout Europe, particularly in France, Germany, and Czechoslovakia, and in the United States. Artists from disparate backgrounds and ideologies adopted and adapted the technique to suit their goals, further revealing the depth of an underlying identity crisis.
