Steve McCurry, Shaolin Monks Training, Zhengzhou, China, 2004
Cavalier Galleries is celebrating renowned photojournalist Steve McCurry with concurrent exhibitions in their New York and Greenwich locations. One of the greatest visual storytellers of his generation, McCurry's powerful portraits and documentary photography help us understand more about different cultures around the world.
From February 8 to March 9, 2024, more than 30 of his photographs from the 1980s to today will go on view at the gallery's location in New York's Chelsea neighborhood. A separate, pendant exhibition will also go up simultaneously in Greenwich, Connecticut. With a vast archive to pull from, the gallery directors were spoiled for choice and met with McCurry's team to carefully select images that would explore the depth and breadth of his work. The result is a powerful show that takes us from Cuba and the Philippines to Myanmar, Pakistan, and Tibet.
“We selected photographs spanning the past 40 years of his career, from his iconic image of the Afghan Girl (1984) to a breathtaking photograph of Namibian shepherd boys from 2023,” shares Ron Cavalier, president at Cavalier Galleries. “Visitors to the exhibition will be greeted by McCurry’s 1994 photo of Monks Praying at Golden Rock in Myanmar, which is also the cover image of his new book, Devotion: Love and Spirituality. The centerpiece of the exhibition is a wall of eight portraits, selected from countries around the world and showcasing McCurry’s stirring ability to capture both personal narrative and the somehow universal landscape of our diverse, collective humanity.”
Through McCurry's powerful work, which is rich with color and rife with emotion, we learn a bit more about the world. From Shaolin monks in training to Afghan women shopping for shoes, these small glimpses of life help bring us together. And they hopefully also help us realize that we aren't so different from one another.
“I look for that unguarded moment, where the essential soul is peeking out, and try to convey some part of what it is like to be that person, or in a broader sense, to relate their life to the human experience as a whole,” McCurry tells My Modern Met. “We humans connect to one another via eye contact—there is a real power in that shared moment of attention when you catch a glimpse of what it must be like to be in their shoes. I think this is one of the most powerful things about photography: to relate that sensation.”
Steve McCurry runs from February 8, 2024, to March 9, 2024, at Cavalier Galleries in New York City (530 W 24th Street) and Greenwich, Connecticut (175 Greenwich Avenue). On Thursday, February 22, there will also be an artist reception and signing of McCurry's new book, Devotion: Love and Spirituality, at the New York location.