During the summer in which the USA marks its 250th anniversary, A Portrait of America offers a reflection on and of the country. The exhibition features twenty-one photographers who follow in the tradition of such iconic American documentary photographers as Dorothea Lange (1895-1965), Walker Evans (1903-1975) and Robert Frank (1924-2019). Most of the participating artists live on Long lsland, but we are also honored to include images by Leonard McCombe (1923-2015) and Herbert Talerman (1925-1992), two esteemed late photographers whose families have generously loaned several of their works.

As the title indicates, this exhibition is just one portrait ot the country; there are countless others. We hope, however, that this selection of photographs conveys the vast expanse and richness ot the country, geographically, socially and culturally. Our Portrait begins in Greenport and expands across the United States. Photos date from the 1940s to the present day. New York City and its inhabitants are inevitably well represented, but the works also highlight life in different parts of the country, from Native American reservations to the landscape of the American frontier, and from urban and industrial areas to beachside towns.

Mirroring the rich kaleidoscope of the country, the exhibition expands beyond this main gallery to the adjacent corridor and study rooms, and upstairs. In the corridor’s display cabinet, photos by lan Wile (b. 1971) take us on one of America’s quintessential rites ot passage-the cross-country road trip. The study rooms, staged as photographers’ studios, feature works by Dennis Chalkin (b. 1948) and Anders Goldfarb (b. 1954), both professional photographers with long careers in the field. Upstairs, the Faces of Greenport series by Jeremy Garretson (b. 1984) takes us back to our hometown.

Above all, the photographs in A Portrait of America capture the country’s myriad ot people. They chronicle those of different colors and ethnicities; the young and the old; the haves and the have-nots; people at work and at leisure. Even in pictures of landscapes and abandoned buildings, the human presence is palpable. Together, the works document a country of parades and protests; of epic landscapes and small, run-down towns; of glitz and glamour and everyday life; and of hopes and dreams, toil and disappointment.

Ultimately, as the quotes above convey, these documentary photographs don’t profess to being the whole truth, but they get us a little closer to understanding the allure and the complexity of the American Dream.