Couples: Photographs by Mariana Cook

Center for Creative Photography - University of Arizona

photo by John Hazeltine

Tucson, AZ

520-621-7968

http://www.creativephotography.org

Couples: Photographs by Mariana Cook

Photographer Mariana Cook has received national acclaim for her portraits of mothers and sons, fathers and daughters, and generations of women. This fall, the exhibition Couples: Photographs by Mariana Cook, on view at the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona from September 23 through November 26, 2000, premieres a selection of Cook's intimate yet still formal portrait photographs of couples from across the country. The work depicts both famous couples and everyday people in images that explore the combined identity of individuals who have committed to live their lives together. The sitters represent diverse ages and ethnicities, and a range of partnerships that they reflect upon in personal, written narratives that accompany the exhibition prints.

"The Center is pleased to present this engaging project from Mariana Cook, who has never before exhibited in Arizona," said Nancy Lutz, Acting Director, Center for Creative Photography. "This show will have enormous appeal for all generations of visitors as it speaks to what is extraordinary in every relationship." (left: Philip Johnson and David Whitney, ©Mariana Cook, 1995)

Couples: Photographs by Mariana Cook features famous couples - -such as the painters Elaine and Willem de Kooning, Chairman of the Federal Reserve Board Alan Greenspan and journalist Andrea Mitchell, architect Philip Johnson and curator David Whitney, and artist Maya Lin and art dealer Daniel Wolf -- and other personalities such as retired seamstress and factory worker Maria and Luigi Cambareri, poet Melanie Hope and filmmaker Catherine Gund, and wolf and bear trainers Lynne and Doug Seus. The New York Times said Cook's images "achieve a surprising diversity, both emotional and formal, despite a simple style whose main unifying characteristic is the black backdrop deployed in nearly every shot."

Cook's work has been exhibited nationally at the Adelson Gallery, New York; The Jewish Museum, New York; Ellis Island, New York; and the National Portrait Gallery, Washington D.C., among others. It can also be found in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Victoria and Albert Museum, London; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston Los Angeles County Museum of Art; Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York; and the National Portrait Gallery in London. Her photographs have been published in dozens of magazines such as American Photo, The New York Times Magazine, Glamour and The New Yorker. Cook's books include Generations of Women, Mothers and Sons, and Fathers and Daughters (all from Chronicle Books). She lives in New York City. (left: Alan Greenspan and Andrea Mitchell, ©Mariana Cook, 1998)

Couples: Photographs by Mariana Cook is organized by the artist, with funding support from the Richard & Rhoda Goldman Fund. It is presented as part of CCP's 25h Anniversary year, which runs through the end of 2001. During this celebration, CCP is presenting a dozen exhibitions, publications, and many educational programs and special events, each accenting aspects of CCP's history, mission, collections and programs.

Be sure to visit more of Resource Library Magazine with museum exhibition news, stories on American art, calendars, and more. Here are links to selected sections of the magazine: