A selection of photographs from the recently acquired collection of New York dealer Mark Freidus, chosen from over 2,100 prints of the 1940s through the 1980s, the exhibition featured examples of Diane Arbus's 1972 monograph published by the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Brassäi's The Secret Paris of the 30s (1931-35), created during his nocturnal wanderings through the sordid underbelly of Paris; Larry Clark's Teenage Lust (1983); Robert Frank's classic postwar The Americans, created during his 1955-56 trip across the US; Lee Friedlander's Photographs (1978); Nan Goldin's The Ballad of Sexual Dependency (1979-86); Helen Levitt's expressive photographs of New York street life, published as A Way of Seeing (1965); Danny Lyon's The Bikeriders (1967), taken during a two-year period spend with a group of bikers; and Gary Winogrand's The Animals (1969), a humorous look at people and zoo animals.
Social Documents: Selections from the Permanent Collection was organized by Connie Butler, Assistant Curator and Paul Schimmel, Chief Curator, The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles.