Witness at a CrossroadsPhotographer Marc Riboud in Asia

October 16, 2014–March 23, 2015
Rubin Museum
150 W. 17th St., NYC

Black-and-white photograph of figure riding bicycle with mountains in background. Sign to figure's left has a drawing of a car and an arrow pointing left and a drawing of a horse and a camel with an arrow pointing right.

Witness at a Crossroads chronicles French photographer Marc Riboud’s journeys across Asia during the mid-1950s and 1960s, a period of great cultural and political transition in the region. More than one hundred arresting black-and-white photographs offer glimpses into everyday life in Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, Nepal, China, and Japan, illuminating tensions between tradition and post-war modernity.

From a camel market in Rajasthan to music hall dancers in Tokyo to an extraordinary meeting between the Dalai Lama, Zhou Enlai, Indira Gandhi, and Jawaharlal Nehru, Riboud’s photographs capture moments of humanity, humor, and intimacy.

Also on display is correspondence between Riboud and his mentor Henri Cartier-Bresson, press cards, contact sheets, maps, and personal items such as the photographer’s passport and camera.

CuratorCurator

Beth Citron was previously the curator of modern and contemporary art at the Rubin Museum of Art. Her exhibitions for the Rubin Museum included Genesis Breyer P-Orridge: Try to Altar Everything (2016), Francesco Clemente: Inspired by India (2014), Witness at a Crossroads: Photographer Marc Riboud in Asia (2014), and the three-part exhibition series Modernist Art from India (2011-13). She completed a PhD in the History of Art at the University of Pennsylvania, and has taught in the Art History Department at New York University, from which she also earned a BA in Fine Arts.

This exhibition is supported, in part, by Contributors to the 2014 Exhibitions Fund.

Witness at a CrossroadsPhotographer Marc Riboud in Asia

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