Fine Arts Preview

Artists reject community

"Looks Given/Looks Taken"

Through May 15th

At the Institute for the Humanities

The exhibit is ensconced in a tiny white room in the Institute for the Humanities. Even with the signage (which is meager), it's easy to miss, tucked into a corner of the building like an afterthought.

Most of the shots are the work of photographers closely associated with the New York Photo League. The League was a group of young, mostly Jewish men and women brought together in the '40s both by a love for photography and a desire to escape from the Jewish community they were tied to. Their photos form a striking montage, both of their subjects and of the photographers themselves.

For such a small display, the photos are impressive. Each photo is conspicuously observational, a pointed look either at the subject or from the subject. In one photo a kiss is captured, the lovers unaware, while another couple stares directly at the camera as they embrace. It is a striking examination of self-awareness. Although each photo maintains this theme of "looks," they are remarkably varied - an excellent examination of the significance of small moments of consciousness.

BEN VANWAGONER

Russian caricatures finally revealed

"Caricature and the 1905 Russian Revolution"

Through April 18th

At the Hatcher Graduate Library, Library Gallery (Room 100)

In times of political and social crises, people find ways to speak out - and when they do, others begin to understand history from the point of view of those who created it. Words and art are often the modes of expression that survive these kinds of crises. In 1905 Russia, caricatures became a prominent way for artists to depict the brutality of the Tsarist regime as it was happening. Through April 18, illustrative caricatures from this time period, as well as books on the Russian Revolution and caricature censorship, will be put on display in the gallery room of the Hatcher Graduate Library.

After Russian censorship controls were uplifted in 1905, an influx of caricatures in journals began to circulate the country. This sudden flourish of artwork came to a halt in 1906 with the re-instatement of caricature censorship. The 80 pieces of art on display resonate with the brief period in history when this form of free speech was accepted, and feelings of hostility people felt towards the regime could be openly expressed.

Many of the caricatures are embedded with political statements on Tsar Nicholas. One such caricature portrays the abundance of murder with an illustration of Tsar Nicholas sitting on a throne of skulls. Others contain images of broken bodies, bloody streets and attacks created by the tsar. The extensive symbolism of skeletons and blood speak to the growing violence that overwhelmed a nation in search of civil liberties.

"I think seeing artwork that was suppressed (or prosecuted afterwards) certainly suggests that we are getting a glimpse, at least, of how some people really felt but often could not safely express such," said curator Robert Goldstein, a professor at Oakland University and University Research Associate at the Center for Russian & Eastern European Studies.

Collectively, the exhibit is an illustrative story of a society deprived of basic human rights due to the rule of an absolute monarchy. By accessing this story through the primary source of caricatures, the engagement with the subject becomes more personal, and the perspective through which we understand history expands with the exposure to this trustworthy form of authenticity.

PRIYA BALI