The New Yorker magazine, which just celebrated its 100th anniversary, used only illustrations to accompany its articles for almost 70 years. That changed in 1992, when Tina Brown was named editor in chief and immediately named Richard Avedon as the publication’s first exclusive staff photographer. Two years later, Elisabeth Biondi was named its first visuals editor, and continued in that capacity until 2011.
The next exhibition at The Church will not only answer the question, “What is worth 1,000 words?” but also whether Ms. Brown’s decision was a wise one. “A Thousand Words: Photography at The New Yorker,” organized by Ms. Biondi, will open on Saturday, with a free reception from 6 to 7:30 p.m.
In addition to Avedon, who held his position until 2004, The New Yorker has had nine additional staff photographers: Ruven Afanador, Mary Ellen Mark, Gilles Peress, Sylvia Plachy, Platon, Robert Polidori, Steve Pyke, Martin Schoeller, and Max Vadukul.
Those 10 artists are the subjects of the exhibition at the Sag Harbor cultural center, which showcases their groundbreaking work and how it changed the visual nature of the periodical. The selected photographs also serve as powerful documentation of important moments in politics, popular culture, and social experiences of the era. Since David Remnick was named editor in chief in 1998, photography has continued to be an integral part of the magazine.
“When The Church invited me to curate an exhibition, it was immediately clear to me that I wanted to use it as an opportunity to document my time working at The New Yorker,” said Ms. Biondi, who has been a Sag Harbor resident since 1997. “I believe that this was the most important work I’ve done in my career and am thrilled to share the work with my community here, as well as to invite others to explore the extraordinary photographers whose work will be on view.”
Each of the nine photographers who succeeded Avedon had a unique vision. The Church cited Mr. Schoeller’s striking, often hyperdetailed portraits; Mark’s empathetic, humanistic narratives; Mr. Pyke’s psychological studies of artists and thinkers; Platon’s iconic vision; Mr. Peress’s powerful photo essays; Mr. Vadukul’s kinetic, cinematic images; Mr. Afanador’s theatrical yet stark and minimal portraits; Ms. Plachy’s poetic eye, and Mr. Polidori’s focus on memory and space.
Ms. Biondi has been an independent curator, teacher, and writer since 2011. Before moving to The New Yorker, she worked for Stern magazine in Germany and Vanity Fair in New York. She has organized exhibitions in the city at the Howard Greenberg Gallery, the Steven Kasher Gallery, the Fridman Gallery, and the Seaport Museum. Venues farther afield include the Annenberg Space for Photography in Los Angeles, the Museu da Imagem e do Som in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and Centro Fotografico Manuel Alvarez Bravo in Oaxaca, Mexico.
The exhibition will continue through May 31.
