Museum of Contemporary Photography opens its vast vault
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Marshall Scheuttle, Wonder Lodge, 2013. 2015:57. Photo: Courtesy of MoCP
On its 50th anniversary, Chicago's Museum of Contemporary Photography presents a snapshot of its impressive collection.
The big picture: "MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades" culls from the museum's archive of 18,000 objects to illustrate the evolution of the art form, but also reveals images of how Chicago — and the world — have changed in half a century.
Zoom in: The museum's hometown appears throughout the exhibit, with scenes of quiet, empty CTA stations, a crowded State Street lined with marquees marking the era and a girl on a tree swing in a distinctly Chicago neighborhood lined with workers' cottages.
- It's hard to pin down just one theme throughout. A familiar, but beautiful, scene of spilled milk in a Kenosha grocery store hangs close to an arrestingly real portrait of Ken Meeks, an AIDS patient in a hospital gown, lesions covering his arms, staring into the camera.
Context: Each gallery represents a decade in the museum's history, starting in 1979, when the founders started collecting. Until the early 2000s, MoCP almost exclusively acquired works created after 1959 by American artists.
- In the decades since, the museum has been more intentional about filling in gaps of representation and gathering work that expands the traditional definition of "photography."
State of play: This isn't the only time the public can peek inside the vast archive. Individuals, groups, and classes can request tours and viewings through MoCP's site.
If you go: "MoCP at Fifty: Collecting Through the Decades" is on display at 600 S. Michigan Ave. through May 16. The museum is free.