Sat 2/24-7/14
Marilyn Stafford isn’t a well-known name is the history of photography. But the northeast Ohio-born photographer, who died early last year at the age of 97, had an impressive career as an actress, singer and world traveler, which fueled her camera work. Now the Akron Art Museum is opening a show called Marilyn Stafford; A Life in Photography, sharing the work she did between the 1940s and 1980s. It included fashion work — a staple income-producing stream for talented 20th-century photographers (including ones as unlikely as Diane Arbus) who used that income to fund their more personal work — as well as portraiture. Stafford also focused on “social documentary” — photo essays of important world events and historical figures such as India’s only woman prime minister Indira Gandhi and legendary scientist Albert Einstein, which she says is the first portrait she ever took.
When she died in January 2023, the New York Times headed her obituary “A Photojournalism Rediscovered.” Discover her at the Akron Art Museum from Saturday February 24 through Sunday July 14.
akronartmuseum.org/upcoming-exhibitions/