Road Tripping with Robert Frank and Inge Morath

Inge Morath, Outside Memphis, Tennessee, 1960. © Inge Morath/Magnum Photos

Bernard Plossu, New Mexico, 1980. © Bernard Plossu, Courtesy of the Artist and Eaton Fine Art, West Palm Beach, FL

Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Wires, 2008. © Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Courtesy the artists and RaebervonStenglin, Zurich and Peter Lav, Copenhagen

Jacob Holdt, Alabama. © Jacob Holdt, Courtesy of the artist and VI Gallery, Copenhagen

Stephen Shore, U.S. 97, South of Klamath Falls, Oregon, July 21, 1973. © Stephen Shore, Courtesy of the artist and 303 Gallery, New York

Joel Meyerowitz, Florida, 1970. © Joel Meyerowitz, Courtesy of the artist and Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York

Todd Hido, #6097, 2007. © Todd Hido, Courtesy the artist Bruce Silverstein Gallery, New York

Ed Ruscha, Phillips 66, Flagstaff, Arizona, 1962. © Ed Ruscha, Courtesy of the artist

Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Tires, 2006. © Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Courtesy the artists and RaebervonStenglin, Zurich and Peter Lav, Copenhagen

Justine Kurland, Claire, 8th Ward, 2012. © Justine Kurland, Courtesy Mitchell-Innes & Nash Gallery, New York

Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs, Broken Street Line, 2008. © Taiyo Onorato and Nico Krebs, Courtesy the artists and RaebervonStenglin, Zurich and Peter Lav, Copenhagen

Summer is the season for road trips.

The open road, an enduring symbol in American culture, has represented discovery and freedom ever since cars became widely available. The American road trip has found a prominent place in literature, music, and movies. And it has had a powerful influence on photography. Some of the most acclaimed photographs in the history of the medium have been made in the midst of trips photographers took across the U.S. with the purpose of making work.

The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip, on view at Telfair Museums, explores the road trip as a photographic genre. Comprised of images from the early 1900s to the present day, the exhibition looks at photographers for whom the American road was a muse.

The show considers Robert Franks’s seminal series The Americans (1958) and also includes Garry Winogrand’s 1964, Joel Sternfeld’s American Prospects, William Eggleston’s Los Alamos and Justine Kurland’s Highway Kind. The 19 featured artists and road trips trace the evolution of American car culture, the idea of the open road, and how photographers embraced the subject of America to reflect on place, time, and self.

This traveling exhibition is organized by Aperture Foundation. After nearly three years and seven venues, the Telfair is the final pit stop for The Open Road.

The Open Road: Photography and the American Road Trip
Curated by David Campany and Denise Wolff
Telfair Museums
Savannah, Georgia
Through September 3, 2018

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