Street Portraits, 1946–1976:
The Photographs of Jules Aarons
March 8 – May 25, 2003
Opening Reception: Friday, March 14, from 6-8 pm
Jules Aarons is a Boston photographer who has documented life on the street around the world—Boston, Paris, England, India, South America, and Japan. Working in the tradition of street photography as practiced by artists such as Lisette Model and Henri Cartier-Bresson, Aarons has recorded invaluable documents in black and white of a particular place and time.
Jules Aarons has a long history with DeCordova Museum, first as an exhibiting artist in 1951, a photography instructor at the Museum School in the early 1950s, and a curator and consultant on several photography exhibitions. DeCordova was unusual among area museums to show photography in the 1950s. In 2000, Aarons's work was included in DeCordova's seminal exhibition, Photography in Boston: 1955–1985, documenting his important role in the history of photography in this region. Thus, it is fitting that 52 years after his first show at DeCordova, the Museum is hosting Street Portraits, 1946–1976, a retrospective that includes some images shown here in years past.
Although he was not trained as an artist, Aarons quickly mastered the technical aspects of photography, producing images with dramatic shadows and highlights, formally structured compositions, and timeless presence. Aarons's active and distinguished career as a physicist afforded him the opportunity to photograph during his travels; as a result, in addition to a significant body of work taken in Boston's West and North Ends, Aarons photographed in Europe, South America, and Asia. His interest in and empathy with his subjects enabled him to capture quotidian moments that resonate with a joie de vivre, whether the subject is a street performer in Paris or a girl running down the sidewalk in Boston.
When Jules Aarons began photographing in the neighborhoods of Boston in the late 1940s, the era of post-war urban renewal was about to begin and neighborhoods such as the West End were targeted for destruction. The city government and the business community in Boston did not see the homes of generations of families and kids playing in the street; they saw slums that needed to be cleared and the opportunity for fiscal growth. Aarons was documenting the end of an era of stability and community in many Boston neighborhoods.
This exhibition of approximately 65 vintage prints will be accompanied by a 152-page soft cover illustrated book (Stinehour Press), which includes an essay by art historian Kim Sichel, and an introduction by Director of Curatorial Affairs Rachel Rosenfield Lafo. The exhibition is organized by Rachel Rosenfield Lafo, and Curatorial Fellows Jennifer Uhrhane and Francine Weiss. Funding is provided by The Richard Florsheim Art Fund.
