![Horst P. Horst - Mainbocher Corset, 1939](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/Horst_Corset_web.jpg)
Backstory
Group exhibition
28/06/2016
30/07/2016
Gallery FIFTY ONE
Opening reception: Saturday, Jun. 25th 2016 from 2 – 6 pm
Gallery FIFTY ONE is pleased to announce its summer exhibition “Backstory”: a group show about back-view portraits. Unlike the traditional, frontal portraiture where the facial expression gives away a straightforward identity; portraits shot from behind are more narrative due to its anonymity. Here, the signifiers of the frame are key players to resolve the mystery of the back and telling its story. The work of different photographers will be juxtaposed, taken over the past half century, in different continents, in studio or urban settings. It will give a glimpse of the visual and the imaginary language of the back portrait.
![Yamamoto Masao - #0599, A box of Ku, n.d.](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/599_600DPI.jpeg)
![Michael Wolf - #16, Paris street View, 2009](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/016-copy.jpg)
Artists on view Backstory
Horst P. Horst, Masao Yamamoto, Michael Wolf, Saul Leiter, Frank Horvat, Lisette Model, Vivian Maier, Leon Levinstein, Louis Faurer, Jan Yoors, Malick Sidibé, Martin Munkacsi, Harold Feinstein, Erwin Blumenfeld, Jacques Sonck, Harry Gruyaert and Marvin Newman.
![Harold Feinstein - Flowing Hair on Back, Putney Vermont, 1974](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/HFeinstein_CI-199_WetHairSwirl.jpg)
![Saul Leiter - Joanna, c. 1947](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PF116805-copy.jpg)
![Jan Yoors - Coney Island, 1962](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/P0115JY-Coney-Isld-copy.jpg)
![Harry Gruyaert - France, Paris. Café la Palette, 1985](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/grh1985004k321R-copy.jpg)
![Marvin Newman - Sun Shadow, 1956](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PF123738-copy.jpg)
![](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/1963-Warsaw-couple-in-a-café-copy.jpg)
![Leon Levinstein - Handball Players, Houston Street, New York, 1955](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pf92670.jpg)
![Vivian Maier - Chicago, 1966](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/PF117590.jpg)
![Louis Faurer - Freudian Handclasp, New York City, 1948](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/pf48127.jpg)
![Jacques Sonck - Untitled, Studio, 2008](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/s038.jpg)
![Malick Sidibé - Vues de dos, 2001](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/MS.6385.5.jpeg)
![Lisette Model - Circus Man, Nice, 1933-38](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/circus.jpg)
![Erwin Blumenfeld - Untitled, 1943](https://www.gallery51.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/07/blumenfeld.jpeg)