People can complain that the juxtapositions are too obvious or too obtuse. If the themes are well-chosen, they can help make sense of a chaotic scene. Instead, you have pre-teens burning down a tree in the back yard in a Nic Nicosia photo and sexually charged images of youths by photographers Jock Sturges and Sally Mann. You have an untitled lithograph, probably autobiographical, by the late David Wojnarowicz, a portrait of a typical-looking boy whose homosexuality will cause him, the artist savagely predicts in the accompanying text, heartbreaking troubles. This is youth as innocence lost.
Associations ricochet around the galleries and into the art world.
It will be interesting to see whether MOMA makes any use of this series when it reinstalls its permanent collection after its extensive renovation. Although his star has faded in the quarter-century since his death, Edward Steichen is best remembered as a celebrity photographer. You'll find plenty of glamour in this first major survey in 40 years. But, as this exhibition reminds us, Vanity Fair and Vogue photos represent only a part of Steichen's multifarious legacy. He began his career with a moody, atmospheric approach, which he abandoned for sharp, theatrically lit, graphic compositions.