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Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis
Tags for: Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis
- Special Exhibition
Sunday, January 26–Sunday, May 25, 2025
Location: 230 Photography
Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries
Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries
Free; No Ticket Required
Featured Art
About The Exhibition
In Pictures for Charis, American photographer Kelli Connell reconsiders the relationship between writer Charis (pronounced CARE-iss) Wilson and photographer Edward Weston through a close examination of Wilson’s prose and Weston’s iconic photographs of the Western landscape and the female nude. Connell weaves together the stories of Wilson and Weston with that of her own relationship with her partner at the time, Betsy Odom, enriching our understanding of the couple from her contemporary queer and feminist perspective. Using Weston and Wilson publications as a guide, Connell and Odom created portrait and landscape photographs at sites where Wilson and Weston lived, made art, and spent time together.
This exhibition juxtaposes Connell’s photographs with classic figure studies and landscapes by Weston from 1934–45, one of his most productive periods and the span of his relationship with Wilson.
The monograph Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis (2024) is copublished by Aperture and the Center for Creative Photography; it brings together Connell’s text, portraits of Odom, new landscape views, and original materials by both Wilson and Weston.
Sponsors
Kelli Connell: Pictures for Charis is co-organized by the Cleveland Museum of Art; the Arizona Board of Regents on behalf of the University of Arizona, Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; and the High Museum of Art, Atlanta. A generous Foundation for Advancement in Conservation (FAIC)/Tru Vue® Conservation and Exhibition Grant and in-kind support of Optium Museum Acrylic® for preservation of this work was provided by Tru Vue, Inc. and Larson-Juhl.
All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Major annual support is provided by the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm and the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment. Generous annual support is provided by two anonymous donors, Gini and Randy Barbato, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Gail and Bill Calfee, Dr. William A. Chilcote Jr. and Dr. Barbara S. Kaplan, Joseph and Susan Corsaro, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Robin Heiser, the late Marta and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., the estate of Walter and Jean Kalberer, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, the William S. Lipscomb Fund, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Henry Ott-Hansen, Christine Fae Powell, Michael and Cindy Resch, William Roj and Mary Lynn Durham, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Saundra K. Stemen, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.
The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.
This exhibition was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.