Elsken Dijkstra Goldin Testino Weegee on BABY Picturing the Ideal Human 1840-now Photography

BABY. Picturing the Ideal Human 1840-now exhibition March 22 – June 1, 2008 and book

The exhibition BABY. Picturing the Ideal Human 1840-now is the first exhibition focussing entirely on baby photography. Probably babies are the most photographed subject ever. Strangely enough baby photography has never been extensively examined for or has never been main subject for an exhibition. The main theme of this exhibition is the idealisation of babies since the early days of photography until now. This will be illustrated through approximately 150 images by among others 19th Century studio photographers, 20st and 21st Century beauty pageants, babies in advertising and fashion series. The earliest works in the exhibition are daguerreotypes and salted prints; the most recent objects are digital works and 4D antenatal films. BABY includes work by world’s most famous photographers as well as amateur and studio photographers, and of course parents themselves. On show is work by Amy Arbus, Koos Breukel, Julia Margaret Cameron, Rineke Dijkstra, Ed van der Elsken, Henri Lartigue, Oscar Rejlander, August Sander, Mario Testino and Weegee. The exhibition will be accompanied by a book. BABY: picturing the ideal human 1840 - now