The ocean—one look: Artist Rineke Dijkstra (*1959) portrays young people looking directly into the camera on diverse beaches around the world—in Poland, Great Britain, Ukraine, Croatia, and the United States. What first appear to be snapshots are carefully composed photographs captured within a search for the essence of human existence. These are sensitive encounters with which the artist raises questions about authenticity and truthfulness in portrait photography.
About the Exhibition
The Städel Museum will present 25 of Dijkstra’s works in a solo exhibition, including 21 images from her Beach Portraits series, which drew international attention, establishing her as one of the most influential women photographers in contemporary art. Works from the Streets series and a self-portrait of the artist are also featured in the exhibition.
The high degree of naturalness in Rineke Dijkstra’s photos is of central importance to her. Throughout her work, she zeros in on the fundamental nature of people when capturing their portraits. Dijkstra’s “Self-Portrait, Marnixbad, Netherlands, June 19, 1991”, showing her after strenuous swimming training, was taken right before the Beach Portraits. It led the artist to develop the series created mainly between 1992 and 1998, in which she links young people across national borders, depicting them in the same composition.
Rineke Dijkstra (*1959)
Kolobrzeg, Poland, July 26, 1992, 1992
Rineke Dijkstra (*1959)
Jalta, Ukraine, July 30, 1993, 1993
Through this series of works’ unique visual language, which taps into art historical references ranging from the works of Sandro Botticelli to August Sander, among others, Dijkstra’s photographs express a contemporary historical view of the era following the Cold War. Set before the serene, monochrome background of the sea and reduced in context and clothes, the focus lies entirely on those portrayed, their natures and their youthful naturalness, which are manifested in the tiniest nuances of facial expressions and posture—especially when their emotional worlds become apparent despite all their efforts. This also turns the potent shots into timeless images embodying the human condition, full of uncertainty, curiosity, vulnerability and a search for identity.
Curator
Maja Lisewski, assistant curator, Contemporary Art Collection
