Things are Queer

Appearing in 1970, Duane Michals Sequences became one of the key photography books of the decade. Michals concise narratives, typically composed of six or seven uncaptioned images, were surreal, provocative, mysteriousand sometimes flat-out funny. They fueled a radically new direction for a generation of artists exploring the fictional potential of photography. Critic Jed Perl, reviewing a traveling retrospective organized by Pittsburghs Carnegie Museums in 2014, called the sequences of small, black-and-white images freshly minted fairy tales for adults. These surreal visual fables were shown at the Museum of Modern Art in 1970, when the museum was the arbiter of all things photographic. [] With [his] cosmic-comic sequences, Michals became photographys genial troublemaker, seen by some as thumbing his nose at the lyric realism of Henri Cartier-Bressons decisive moment and Alfred Stieglitzs perfect prints. What can all too easily be underestimated is the quick, agile intelligence that Michals brought to his troublemaking. Thats what has given his dissident spirit its staying power. Spanning half a century, Things are Queer. 50 Years of Sequences brings together a generous selection of Michals sequences, including many that have never before been published.

Born in 1932 outside Pittsburgh, Duane Michals is regarded as one of the great photographic innovators of the past century, widely known for his work with series and multiple exposures, and for incorporating handwritten texts as key components in his works. Since his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1970, Michals has had numerous one-person shows in Japan, Europe and the US. In 2014 the Carnegie Museums in Pittsburgh mounted a major retrospective. Michals' books include Homage to Cavafy (1978); Salute, Walt Whitman (1996); The Essential Duane Michals (1997); A Visit with Magritte, published by Steidl in 2011; ABC Duane (2014), a TIME magazine Best Photobook of the Year; and Duane Michals: Portraits (2017).