The Hands, 2002

Tina Barney

Tina Barney’s photographs showcase the emotional complexity and psychological tension in ordinary domestic moments. She began photographing her well-heeled Rhode Island family and friends in 1975, using large-format cameras to capture the rich details of their manicured clothing and gilded interior decors, as well as the subtleties of their strained expressions and meaningful gestures. Her photographs evoke both the spontaneity of documentary realism and the intentionality of directed or fabricated scenes. Barney was among the first artists to create large-scale color photographs, and she later photographed the social elite outside her inner circle. Her work was featured in the 1987 Whitney Biennial and in a mid-career retrospective at the Museum of Modern Art, New York, in 1990.