New Exhibition Shows 56 Years of Evolving Presidential Photography

The International Center of Photography has partnered with the Southampton Arts Center to introduce “Winning the White House: From Press Prints to Selfies,” an exhibition that explores the impact of mass media, especially photography, in presidential campaigns from John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon in 1960 to Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump this year.

“The ICP has always been a center for public conversation for big issues of the day,” explained Mark Lubell, the executive director of ICP. “We use photography as a vehicle to begin those conversations. We’re all discussing the election these days. What ICP can bring is a historical context to that and push it forward to compare how we’re communicating now to how we communicated before.”

Curated by ICP assistant curators Susan Carlson and Claartje van Dijk, this exhibition will feature photography that ranges from iconic photos that exemplify a decades-old election to amateur selfies with presidential candidates that go viral on social media. Guests will be able to examine how presidential candidates were portrayed in various media throughout the years and how their campaigns were shaped around growing media exposure.

The first televised presidential debate—between Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Nixon—marked the beginning of the necessity of an appealing visual presence. In the exhibition, this debate will be available to listen to through headsets, to emulate hearing it on the radio, and then available to watch on a television set.

“What’s interesting is that if you listened to the radio, you thought that Nixon won the debate,” Mr. Lubell pointed out. “But on TV, you thought that Kennedy won the debate. That’s how powerful the medium of TV was.”

The exhibition will also examine how President Ronald Reagan used his skills as an actor and public speaker to his advantage during the 1980 campaign, and then how data played a big role in President Barack Obama’s success in 2008.

Finally, guests will be able to take a look at the increased role of social media in the current election. Social media has not only allowed the candidates to interact more intimately with voters, but it has also allowed for the rapid spread of campaign photos taken by professional photographers as well as amateurs with cellphone cameras.

As a way of allowing guests to partake in the current selfie craze, there will be cardboard cutouts of various presidents ready for picture-taking.

“Winning the White House: From Press Prints to Selfies” will open at the Southampton Arts Center, 25 Jobs Lane, Southampton, on Saturday, August 6, with a public opening reception from 5 to 7:30 p.m. and will run through September 11. The curators will provide a walkthrough of the show on Sunday, August 7, at 11 a.m., when guests can meet select artists and discuss their works.