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Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Cindy and Dog Statue, 1983 Gelatin silver print, 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm), edition of 25© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Cindy and Dog Statue, 1983

Gelatin silver print, 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm), edition of 25
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Jennifer at the Rodeo, 1984 Gelatin silver print, 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm), edition of 25© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Jennifer at the Rodeo, 1984

Gelatin silver print, 10 × 8 inches (25.4 × 20.3 cm), edition of 25
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Holding Virginia, 1989 Gelatin silver print, 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm), edition of 25© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Holding Virginia, 1989

Gelatin silver print, 24 × 20 inches (61 × 50.8 cm), edition of 25
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Emmett Floating at Camp, 1991 Gelatin silver print, 20 × 24 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 25© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Emmett Floating at Camp, 1991

Gelatin silver print, 20 × 24 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 25
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Larry Shaving, 1991 Gelatin silver print, 20 × 24 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 25© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Larry Shaving, 1991

Gelatin silver print, 20 × 24 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 25
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Virginia, Untitled (Upper Field), 1993 Tea-toned gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 10© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Virginia, Untitled (Upper Field), 1993

Tea-toned gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 10
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Deep South, Untitled (Checkmark Windsor), 1998 Tea-toned gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 10© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Deep South, Untitled (Checkmark Windsor), 1998

Tea-toned gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 10
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Georgia, Untitled (Black Spot), 1996 Tea-toned gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 10© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Georgia, Untitled (Black Spot), 1996

Tea-toned gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 10
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Antietam (Cobweb), 2002 Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Antietam (Cobweb), 2002

Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Manassas (Home Field), 2001 Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Manassas (Home Field), 2001

Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Chancellorsville (Rever’s Turn), 2002 Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Chancellorsville (Rever’s Turn), 2002

Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Antietam (Spindly Trees), 2001 Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Battlefields, Antietam (Spindly Trees), 2001

Varnished gelatin silver print, 40 × 50 inches (101.6 × 127 cm), edition of 5
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Untitled, 2000 Gelatin silver print, 30 × 38 inches (76.2 × 96.5 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Untitled, 2000

Gelatin silver print, 30 × 38 inches (76.2 × 96.5 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Untitled, 2000 Gelatin silver print, 30 × 38 inches (76.2 × 96.5 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Untitled, 2000

Gelatin silver print, 30 × 38 inches (76.2 × 96.5 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Triptych, c. 2004 Varnished gelatin silver print, in 3 parts, overall: 50 × 120 inches (127 × 304.8 cm), edition of 8© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Triptych, c. 2004

Varnished gelatin silver print, in 3 parts, overall: 50 × 120 inches (127 × 304.8 cm), edition of 8
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Flamingo on Heart Base), 2012 Gelatin silver print, 16 × 20 inches (40.6 × 50.8 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Flamingo on Heart Base), 2012

Gelatin silver print, 16 × 20 inches (40.6 × 50.8 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Funnel Sculpture), 2012 Gelatin silver print, 20 × 24 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Funnel Sculpture), 2012

Gelatin silver print, 20 × 24 inches (50.8 × 61 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Pale Detail), 1999–2000 Gelatin silver print, 16 × 20 inches (40.6 × 50.8 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Pale Detail), 1999–2000

Gelatin silver print, 16 × 20 inches (40.6 × 50.8 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Suitcase), 2011–2012 Platinum print, 9 × 14 inches (22.9 × 35.6 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Suitcase), 2011–2012

Platinum print, 9 × 14 inches (22.9 × 35.6 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Solitary Print on Wall), 2012 Inkjet print, 23 × 34 ¾ inches (58.4 × 88.3 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Solitary Print on Wall), 2012

Inkjet print, 23 × 34 ¾ inches (58.4 × 88.3 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Wall Drip with Blue Tape), 2012 Inkjet print, 16 × 24 inches (40.6 × 61 cm), edition of 3© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Remembered Light, Untitled (Wall Drip with Blue Tape), 2012

Inkjet print, 16 × 24 inches (40.6 × 61 cm), edition of 3
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Johnny Reb, 2004 Gelatin silver print, 15 × 13 ½ inches (38.1 × 34.3 cm), edition of 5© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Johnny Reb, 2004

Gelatin silver print, 15 × 13 ½ inches (38.1 × 34.3 cm), edition of 5
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Kingfisher’s Wing, 2007 Gelatin silver print, 15 × 13 ½ inches (38.1 × 34.3 cm), edition of 5© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Kingfisher’s Wing, 2007

Gelatin silver print, 15 × 13 ½ inches (38.1 × 34.3 cm), edition of 5
© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, The Nature of Loneliness, 2008 Gelatin silver print, 15 × 13 ½ inches (38.1 × 34.3 cm), edition of 5© Sally Mann

Sally Mann, The Nature of Loneliness, 2008

Gelatin silver print, 15 × 13 ½ inches (38.1 × 34.3 cm), edition of 5
© Sally Mann

About

To be able to take my pictures, I have to look, all the time, at the people and places I care about. And I must do so with both ardor and cool appraisal, with the passions of eye and heart, but in that ardent heart there must also be a splinter of ice. 
—Sally Mann

Sally Mann is known for her photographs of intimate and familiar subjects rendered both sublime and disquieting. Her projects explore the complexities of familial relationships, social realities, and the passage of time, capturing tensions between nature, history, and memory.

Born in Lexington, Virginia, Mann began to study photography in the late 1960s, attending the Ansel Adams Gallery’s Yosemite Workshops in Yosemite National Park, California and the Putney School and Bennington College, both in Vermont. She received a BA from Hollins College, Roanoke, Virginia, in 1974, and an MA in creative writing the following year. At a moment when many other photographers were creating large-scale color prints, Mann looked to photography’s past, investigating the visual and metaphorical potential of employing nineteenth-century technologies. She has long used an 8 x 10 bellows camera and has explored platinum, bromoil, and wet-plate collodion processes for making prints.

Mann had her first solo museum exhibition at the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, in 1977, presenting The Lewis Law Portfolio (1974–76)a series of black-and-white photographs that comprise some of her earliest explorations into the inherent abstract beauty of the everyday. In the early 1980s she published two books, Second Sight and At Twelve, the latter a study of young girls on the cusp of womanhood. Between 1984 and 1994 she worked on the series Family Pictures, which focused on her three children, then all under the age of twelve. These works touch on ordinary moments—playing, sleeping, and eating—as well as larger themes such as death and cultural perceptions of sexuality and motherhood. From 1999 to 2012, Mann photographed Cy Twombly’s warmly lit studio in Lexington, recording the moments she spent with him there as well as the traces of his artistic life.

Read more

Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes

to light, and then return—: A Night of Poetry with Edmund de Waal, Elisa Gonzalez, Terrance Hayes, and Sally Mann

Gagosian presented an evening of poetry inside to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann, inspired by each other’s practices, at Gagosian, New York. In this video—taking the artists’ shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis as a point of departure—poets Elisa Gonzalez and Terrance Hayes read a selection of their recent works that resonate with the themes of elegy and historical reckoning in the show. The evening was moderated by Jonathan Galassi, chairman and executive editor at Farrar, Straus & Giroux.

Five white objects lined up on a white shelf

to light, and then return—Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann

This fall, artists and friends Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann will exhibit new works together in New York. Inspired by their shared love of poetry, fragments, and metamorphosis, the works included will form a dialogue between their respective practices. Here they meet to speak about the origins and developments of the project.

Roe Ethridge's Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on the cover of Gagosian Quarterly, Spring 2023

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2023

The Spring 2023 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Roe Ethridge’s Two Kittens with Yarn Ball (2017–22) on its cover.

Sally Mann and Benjamin Moser

Sally Mann and Benjamin Moser

During the 2022 edition of Paris Photo, Sally Mann and Benjamin Moser sat down for an intimate conversation as the first event in Gagosian’s Paris Salon series, initiated by Jessie Fortune Ryan. In light of Moser’s Pulitzer Prize–winning biography of Susan Sontag, Sontag: Her Life and Work (2019), recently translated into French, the two discussed the power and responsibility tied up in their respective practices of photography and writing.

Still from "Sally Mann: Vinculum".

Sally Mann: Vinculum

Join Sally Mann at her studio in Lexington, Virginia. Filmed at work in her darkroom and within the surrounding landscape, she discusses her exploratory approach to making and printing pictures, what draws her to the landscape of the American South, and her newest body of work, Vinculum.

Sally Mann and Edmund de Waal at the Frick Collection, New York, November 8, 2019.

In Conversation
Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann

Sally Mann joins Edmund de Waal onstage at the Frick Collection in New York to converse about art, writing, and the importance of place in their respective bodies of work. 

Left: Sally Mann, Self-Portrait, 1974; right: Jenny Saville in her studio, c. 1990s.

In Conversation
Sally Mann and Jenny Saville

The two artists discuss being drawn to difficult subjects, the effects of motherhood on their practice, embracing chance, and their shared adoration of Cy Twombly.

Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2019

Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2019

The Spring 2019 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available, featuring Red Pot with Lute Player #2 by Jonas Wood on its cover.

Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings

Sally Mann: A Thousand Crossings

Drew Gilpin Faust discusses Sally Mann’s landscape photographs of Antietam, a site that more than a century ago bore witness to one of the bloodiest battles in the American Civil War.

Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2018

Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2018

The Spring 2018 Gagosian Quarterly with a cover by Ed Ruscha is now available for order.

Sally Mann: Remembered Light

Sally Mann: Remembered Light

Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann discuss Cy Twombly’s relationship to photography, Mann’s pervasive interest in the American South, and the context behind her newest body of work.

Sally Mann

In Conversation
Sally Mann

In Sally Mann’s new memoir Hold Still, her lyrical prose and startlingly revealing photographs make up an original personal history that has the page-turning drama of a great novel. In this interview with Derek Blasberg, she reflects on discovering family history, her relationship to criticism, and why she will never leave Virginia.

Fairs, Events & Announcements

Gagosian’s booth at Paris Photo 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Man Ray 2015 Trust/ADAGP, Paris 2023; ©️ Estate of Jan Groover; © Kwame Brathwaite; © Jeff Wall; © 2023 June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation; © Tyler Mitchell. Photo: Thomas Lannes

Art Fair

Paris Photo 2023
Still Life Stilled

November 9–12, 2023, booth b10
Grand Palais Ephémère, Paris
www.parisphoto.com

Gagosian is pleased to participate in Paris Photo 2023 at the Grand Palais Éphémère. Still Life Stilled is a catalytic presentation, organized by Joshua Chuang, of historical and contemporary works that explore photography’s unique capacity to both invest inanimate tableaux with substance and find meaning in suspending the theater of life.

Gagosian’s booth at Paris Photo 2023. Artwork, left to right: © Man Ray 2015 Trust/ADAGP, Paris 2023; ©️ Estate of Jan Groover; © Kwame Brathwaite; © Jeff Wall; © 2023 June Leaf and Robert Frank Foundation; © Tyler Mitchell. Photo: Thomas Lannes

Roy Lichtenstein display at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2023. Artwork © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Photo: Mauricio Zelaya

Visit

Madison Avenue Fall Gallery Walk 2023

Saturday, October 28, 2023, 11am–5pm
New York
madisonavenuebid.org

Join Artnews and the Madison Avenue Business Improvement District on an autumn walk to visit over fifty galleries that line Madison Avenue from East 57th to East 86th Streets. The Gagosian Shop, which offers an exclusive and extensive selection of artist’s books, exhibition catalogues, posters, and prints, is featuring a display dedicated to Roy Lichtenstein and offering a 10% discount on all Gagosian titles and posters. It is also the final day to see to light, and then return—, an exhibition of new works by Edmund de Waal and Sally Mann inspired by each other’s practices, at the 976 Madison Avenue gallery behind the Shop.

Roy Lichtenstein display at the Gagosian Shop, New York, 2023. Artwork © Estate of Roy Lichtenstein. Photo: Mauricio Zelaya

Sally Mann during her induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2023. Photo: courtesy American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Honor

Sally Mann
American Academy of Arts and Sciences

Sally Mann was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Sciences in 2022. The artist’s induction ceremony took place in September 2023. Founded in 1780, the academy is both an honorary society that recognizes and celebrates the excellence of its members and an independent research center convening leaders from across disciplines, professions, and perspectives to explore challenges facing society, identify solutions, and promote nonpartisan recommendations that advance the public good.

Sally Mann during her induction into the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 2023. Photo: courtesy American Academy of Arts and Sciences

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Museum Exhibitions

Rick Lowe, Fire #4: This Time Athens, 2023, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC © Rick Lowe Studio

Opening this Week

Revolutions
Art from the Hirshhorn Collection, 1860–1960

March 22, 2024–April 20, 2025
Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC
hirshhorn.si.edu

Revolutions is a major survey of 270 artworks by 126 artists from the Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden’s permanent collection. Celebrating the museum’s fiftieth anniversary, the exhibition aims to capture the shifting cultural landscapes of a century defined by new currents in science and philosophy and ever-increasing mechanization. Shown alongside these historic works are contributions from nineteen contemporary artists whose practices demonstrate how many revolutionary ideas from a hundred years ago remain critical today. Work by Francis Bacon, Amoako Boafo, Alexander Calder, Willem de Kooning, Helen FrankenthalerRick LoweSally Mann, Man Ray, Henry MoorePablo PicassoNathaniel Mary Quinn, and Cy Twombly is included.

Rick Lowe, Fire #4: This Time Athens, 2023, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, DC © Rick Lowe Studio

Sally Mann, Jessie #25, 2004 © Sally Mann

On View

Sally Mann in
Love Languages

Open from September 2, 2023
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
www.mfah.org

Love Languages considers how the making of art is a type of love language all of its own. The installation attempts to address the question “How do we prioritize tenderness against debilitating social conditions?” The works on view engage with the necessity of intimacy in interpersonal and collective relationships. Work by Sally Mann is included.

Sally Mann, Jessie #25, 2004 © Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Deep South, Untitled (Emmett Till River Bank), 1998 © Sally Mann

On View

New Symphony of Time

Opened September 7, 2019
Mississippi Museum of Art, Jackson
www.msmuseumart.org

New Symphony of Time expands the boundaries of Mississippi’s identity, casting light on a shared past to help reflect an expansive, more inclusive future. The exhibition aims to explore personal and collective memory, history and the connection to place, and the roles artists play in pursuit of civil rights and racial equity through ancestry. Themes include migration, movement, and home; shared humanity; environment; and liberty. Work by Titus Kaphar and Sally Mann is included.

Sally Mann, Deep South, Untitled (Emmett Till River Bank), 1998 © Sally Mann

Sally Mann, Three Generations, 1991 © Sally Mann

Closed

Sally Mann in
Real Families: Stories of Change

October 6, 2023–January 7, 2024
Fitzwilliam Museum, University of Cambridge, England
fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk

Real Families: Stories of Change brings together more than 120 artworks spanning painting, photography, sculpture, and film. The exhibition asks viewers to question what makes a family today and to consider the impact our families have on us, through the eyes of contemporary artists. Work by Sally Mann is included.

Sally Mann, Three Generations, 1991 © Sally Mann

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Press

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