at the Saint Louis Art Museum

The Theater of Contemporary Photography is a compelling survey of contemporary photographers, many presented in St. Louis for the first time. Seen together, the works reveal the remarkable potential of the photographic medium in contemporary artistic practice. On view will be over 40 works from an international group of artists which includes Thomas Struth, Carrie Mae Weems, and Gregory Crewdson.

These photographers have focused on the elements of scene setting and directing to meticulously construct environments that are mesmerizing in their large scale, absorbing in their uncanny beauty, and haunting in their elusive meaning. They inventively exploit photography's unique capacity to operate in the boundaries between fact and fiction. Each image is the product of the painstaking execution of the ambitious vision of the artist.

Curated by Eric Lutz, associate curator of prints, drawings and photographs, with Ann-Maree Walker, research assistant, An Orchestrated Vision: The Theater of Contemporary Photography will be on view in the Main Exhibition Galleries.