Viewing The New American West: Photography in Conversation at Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier New York

This week is the last chance to see The New American West at Pierre Yovanovitch Mobilier in Chelsea, New York, a vivid and vital re-imagining of the American West through more than 60 photographs spanning nearly a century (from 1932 to 2024) curated by Howard Greenberg and Carrie Scott.

The exhibition’s starting point was the three-week journey of photographers and childhood friends Maryam Eisler and Alexei Riboud through Texas, New Mexico, Arizona and Utah last Spring. The images they made during this 2,000 mile trip – which brought the friends together after 38 years – show two constantly contrasting points of view, a way to shake up the dominant, singular way of seeing the fabled landscapes of the American West.

From there, the exhibition dives into works by heavyweights including Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Edward Weston and Mary Ellen Mark, as well as contemporary artists working in the US who have constantly sought out visions of the landscape, such as Jungjin Lee and Wim Wenders. Other notable names range from Magnum master, Bruce Davidson, celebrated for his documents of Harlem, to ‘golden age’ American photojournalist Esther Bubley. The beauty of this show is not only in the breathtaking, often startling vistas, but also in the constant contradictions between artists and their viewpoints – a reminder that there is never one way of seeing.