Artists X Artists

Artists X Artists, an exhibition of photographs of artists, writers, dancers, and musicians, opens January 26. In celebration of the centennial of the OU's fine arts college, the exhibition highlights how photographers have portrayed creatives and their artistic process over the past century. 

The portraits are drawn largely from the museum’s permanent collection, including a new acquisition, Balarama Heller’s photograph of the award-winning lighting designer Jennifer Tipton. Heller’s image accompanied a New York Times article about Tipton published in fall 2022. The photograph depicts the octogenarian designer on stage, her arms lifted as conducting the orbs of light that pattern the surrounding negative space. 

Conductors of orchestras also appear throughout the gallery, their batons poised mid-air, as well as a host of the twentieth century’s most lauded performers and artists. Among them is trumpeter Louis Armstrong, photographed by Art Kane in 1958 at rest in the Mojave Desert. In the photograph, generously on loan from the Art Kane Archive, Armstrong’s visage seems reflected in a pool of water. The image, however, contains no water. Kane layered negatives to create the illusion of a reflection of the groundbreaking musician. 

Another composite image depicts surrealist painter Max Ernst, photographed by his friend, Frederick Sommer. The now-iconic portrait is a recent gift from longtime museum supporter, Carol Beesley. Sommer and Ernst became friends in the early 1940s and their relationship led Sommer to experiment with photographic techniques that would challenge the viewer’s perception.

The portrait, which Ernst believed captured him perfectly, makes use of two negatives exposed independently on the same piece of paper. In Sommer’s image and more, Artists X Artists demonstrates the collaborative nature of the arts and how interaction across disciplines results in artistic innovation.