Princeton University Art Museum Presents Shared Vision: The Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla Collection of Photography

DISTRIBUTED ON APRIL 18, 2013

Exhibition features more than 130 iconic and provocative images of the past 100 years

PRINCETON, NJ –Considered among the top photography collectors in the world, Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla have been committed to the medium for over 40 years. More than 130 images from their esteemed collection will be on view at the Princeton University Art Museum in Shared Vision: The Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla Collection of Photography from June 29 through Sept. 15, 2013. Among the prominent photographers included in the exhibition are Diane Arbus, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Rineke Dijkstra, Walker Evans, Robert Frank, Helen Levitt, André Kertész, Robert Mapplethorpe, Richard Misrach, Vik Muniz, Man Ray, Andres Serrano, Cindy Sherman, Garry Winogrand and Francesca Woodman.

“Many exhibitions profile the history of photography, but few are able to reflect the exquisite eye and discerning depth and diversity that this exceptional collection amassed by Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla does,” said Princeton University Art Museum Director James Steward. “What these preeminent collectors are able to share though this exhibition is not only their own aesthetic and emotional response to the evolving photographic canon but the lasting impact of the most important practitioners of their day.”

Gilman and Gonzalez-Falla’s photography collection began in the early 1970s when Sondra Gilman purchased three images by Eugène Atget. The couple’s collecting philosophy centers around the acquisition of major works by leading photographers over the past 100 years and a focus on vintage prints. “We try to verbally describe art, and it’s not a verbal experience. The end result is a love affair,” said Sondra Gilman when describing what draws her to a particular image.

Divided into seven sections, the exhibition explores key themes and subjects in the history of photography, including landscape, portraiture, childhood, narrative photography, figural and formal abstraction, the object, and urban and suburban views. Seminal works such as by Man Ray’s Portrait of Meret Oppenheim (1933), Henri Cartier-Bresson’s Rue Mouffetard (1954), and a classic typological grid by Bernd and Hilla Becher (1965–73) will share the exhibition space with Sally Mann’s Jesse at Five (1987), a 1993 image from Hiroshi Sugimoto’s series Seascapes and a 2004 large-format frame of urban renewal in China by Edward Burtynsky.

Shared Vision was organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville in partnership with the Princeton University Art Museum.

The exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue published by MOCA Jacksonville and produced by the Aperture Foundation, a nonprofit foundation dedicated to promoting photography and the definitive publisher of scholarly works related to the subject. The publication features selected images from the exhibition, with historical context about each image and the photographer, contributions from the curators and an interview with the collectors.

Shared Vision: The Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla Collection of Photography is organized by the Museum of Contemporary Art Jacksonville in collaboration with the Princeton University Art Museum. The exhibition at Jacksonville was sponsored, in part, by Sondra Gilman and Celso Gonzalez-Falla; Marilyn and Charles Gilman III; Joan and Preston Haskell; The Haskell Company; Folio Weekly; and Sunshine Frames, Inc. At Princeton, generous support is provided by Christopher E. Olofson, Class of 1992; the Kathleen C. Sherrerd Program Fund for American Art; the Frances E. and Elias Wolf, Class of 1920, Fund; and the National Endowment for the Arts. Further support has been provided by the Bagley Wright, Class of 1946, Contemporary Art Fund; the Allen R. Adler, Class of 1967, Exhibitions Fund; and by the Partners and Friends of the Princeton University Art Museum. Programming is made possible, in part, by funds from the New Jersey State Council on the Arts/Department of State, a Partner Agency of the National Endowment for the Arts.

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About the Princeton University Art Museum

Founded in 1882, the Princeton University Art Museum is one of the leading university art museums in the country. From the founding gift of a collection of porcelain and pottery, the collections have grown to more than 72,000 works of art that range from ancient to contemporary art and concentrate geographically on the Mediterranean regions, Western Europe, China, the United States, and Latin America.

Committed to advancing Princeton’s teaching and research missions, the Art Museum serves as a gateway to the University for visitors from around the world. The Museum is intimate in scale yet expansive in scope, offering a respite from the rush of daily life, a revitalizing experience of extraordinary works of art, and an opportunity to delve deeply into the study of art and culture.

The Princeton University Art Museum is located at the heart of the Princeton campus, a

short walk from the shops and restaurants of Nassau Street. Admission is free. Museum hours are Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 10 a.m. to 10 p.m.; and Sunday 1 to 5 p.m. The Museum is closed Mondays and major holidays.

Please direct image requests to Erin Firestone, Manager of Marketing and Public Relations, Princeton University Art Museum, at (609) 258-3767 or ef4@princeton.edu.