Judith Joy Ross (Contemporaries : a Photography Series)

the long version

For more than half a century The Museum of Modern Art has been recognized for its commitment to the best in contemporary photography from around the world. The Museum was the first to exhibit and publish the work of many artists who are now regarded as masters of twentieth-century photography. Looking toward the new century, the Contemporaries series extends that tradition by making distinguished contemporary photography widely avilable in books of superior quality. In just over a decade, Judith Joy Ross has created a radically original body of work within the parameters of traditional photographic technique. Using an old-fashioned 8-by-10-inch view camera mounted on a tripod, Ross creates portraits astonishing in their psychological insight. While she has chosen children as a primary subject, work from other series is also represented, including portraits of visitors to the Vietnam Veterans Memorial in Washington, D.C., and of members of the United States Congress.