FRAMED

-American urban photography 1907 - 2012

The pulsating rhythm of the metropolis

The exhibition FRAMED invites the audience on an exciting visual journey through the American metropolises of New York, Los Angeles, Chicago, and San Francisco in the decades between 1910 and 1980. With a revolutionary new photographic perspective, American photo artists capture the pulsating rhythm of urban life in their images. We encounter people who have just settled in the city, workers, playful children, lovers, strollers, and stranded individuals. Many of today's iconic photographs capture moments of hope, tragedy, happiness, and, above all, the beauty of everyday life.

The frames shaping the life of the metropolis

With their urban atmospheres and architectural landscapes, the audience can explore the frames that shape people's lives in the modern metropolis. Often, photo pioneers portray individuals or small groups along the sidewalk, i.e., on the razor-thin line between the public and the private. The interaction with the city is conveyed through mutual gazes and reflections in a psychological and social interaction between photographer, city, and society.

World-renowned photo pioneers

Today, many of the photographers in the exhibition are among the most important representatives of 20th-century photographic art. Iconic works by Diane Arbus, Ed Ruscha, Richard Avedon, Berenice Abbott, Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, or William Eggleston are featured, to name just a few of the 34 artists represented.

Unique in Norway

The exhibition constitutes the first complete presentation of the Sparebankstiftelsen DNB's photography collection, deposited in Lillehammer Art Museum and Drammens Museum. This unique collection enriches the collections of the two museums significantly.

Project Group

Curators for collection and exhibition are art historians Øivind Storm Bjerke, professor emeritus at the University of Oslo; Åsmund Thorkildsen, former director of Drammens Museum; and Svein Olav Hoff, former director of Lillehammer Art Museum. Responsible for exhibition architecture and graphic design for publication is Snøhetta.
Snøhetta project manager: Pia Falk Lind; project manager Lillehammer Kunstmuseum: Therése Selvaag Smerud and Mads Andreas Andreassen

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