the unseen eye: photographs from the w.m. hunt collection

untitled by carrie levy, 2004

photograph by imogen cunningham

hooded witness, unknown photographer

the george eastman house international museum of photography & film presents one of the largest exhibitions in its history - the unseen eye: photographs from the w.m. collection. more than 500 photographs by the masters of the medium will be on view october 1, 2011 through february 19, 2012. 

earlier this year the new yorker referred to the collector as "the legendary" w.m. hunt. he is a renowned curator & dealer who has been collecting photographs for 40 years. a self-described "champion of photography," he is well known for his "eye" & sense of humor. hunt describes the collection as "magical, heart stopping images of people in which the eyes cannot be seen.

the photographs of the unseen eye have a common them - the gaze of the subject is averted, the face obscured, or the eyes firmly closed. the images evoke a wide range of emotions & are characterized, by what, at first glance, the subject conceals rather than what the camera reveals.

eastman house will present the first major u.s. exhibition of the collection, from which aperture is simultaneously publishing a book titled the unseen eye: photographs from the unconscious. 

"this collection & exhibition represent a very personal journey for me," hunt said. "it is my conscious made manifest. these are all photos of me. but they're all of you, too. they are evocative, whimsical, representational, many things. i love the mystery of it. you have to react, to come to the image, to make up your own story."

hunt's first purchase was an imogen cunningham photograph in which the subject's eyes are veiled & unseen by the camera. this now extensive collection of haunting photographs reflects hunt's surreal vision & includes weegee's mult imaged portrait of andy warhol in sunglasses, the breakthrough news photo of ruth snyder in the electric chair in 1928, & robert mapplethorpe's photographs of artist alice neel shortly before her death. vintage & contemporary black & white images join photographs vibrant in colors to create a picture of humanity from birth to death, from the banal to the transcendent.

the exhibition is at the eastman house, international museum of photography & film from october 1, 2011 through february 19, 2012.