CORY REYNOLDS | DATE 11/21/2024

NYPL Jefferson Market presents Neal Slavin with Kevin Moore on 'When Two or More Are Gathered Together'

Thursday, November 21, from 6–7:30 PM, the Jefferson Market branch of the New York Public Library presents photographer Neal Slavin in conversation with editor Kevin Moore for the launch of the new, expanded edition of When Two or More: Are Gathered Together, published by Damiani Books. The event will take place in the Willa Cather Room, on the first floor of the library, and will be followed by a signing.

Photographer Neal Slavin and author Kevin Moore will discuss the new Damiani edition of Slavin's classic book of color group portraits on the 50-year anniversary of the book's first release.

Neal Slavin began taking group portraits in the early 1970s, intrigued by the social dynamics of groups and the motivations behind their formation. While the pictures themselves were most often posed, Slavin instructed his subjects to arrange themselves, allowing natural hierarchies and indications of status to emerge.

When the series was first published in 1976, it was recognized as an instant landmark in the emerging field of color photography, a field that included photographers such as Stephen Shore and William Eggleston. Regarded as something of a deadpan stunt, yet framed as a serious social experiment, When Two or More: Are Gathered Together was appreciated for its surprising insights into American social life.

This expanded fifty-year anniversary edition of When Two or More: Are Gathered Together revisits the urgent question of social unity in the United States and includes new subjects—dogs, fencers and chambermaids—some photographed as recently as 2023. An essay by art historian Kevin Moore offers historical context for this timely and relevant body of early color photography.

At this event, Neal Slavin will speak with Kevin Moore about the making of the original series and the thought processes guiding this new edition.

Photo: Anita Burkhart

Neal Slavin is a world respected photographer and film director whose work encompasses a professional career of over 50 years. He is best known for his group portraits, which have been a significant focus throughout his career.

His photographs are both privately and publicly collected in institutions including the Metropolitan Museum of Art, MoMA, New York Public Library, and the International Center of Photography, all in New York; the National Museum of Photography, Film and Television, England; the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson; Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam; and the Bibliothèque Nationale, Paris; among others.

Slavin’s photographic books include Portugal (Lustrum Press/NY), When Two or More: Are Gathered Together (Farrar, Straus & Giroux/NY), Britons (Andre Deutsch/London & Aperture/NY), and most recently the expanded edition of When Two or More: Are Gathered Together (Damiani Books). His feature films include Arthur Miller’s Focus, in which he directed William H. Macy and Laura Dern. He recently completed a feature-length documentary called SAUDADE, A Love Letter to Portugal.

His numerous awards include a Gold Lion in Cannes for advertising, Silver Cube from the Art Director’s Club of New York, five Addy Awards, Mobius Award, The Cooper Union School of Art & Architecture’s esteemed President’s Citation, the Augustus Saint-Gaudens Medal for Artistic Achievement, as well as the Lifetime Achievement Award in Photography by the American Photography Archives Group (APAG).

Photo: Wilson Reyes

Kevin Moore, Ph.D., is the Artistic Director and Curator for FotoFocus as well as Curator of the McEvoy Collection, San Francisco. His recent exhibitions and publications include Barbara Probst: Subjective Evidence (Contemporary Arts Center/Hartmann Books); Chip Thomas and the Painted Desert Project (Contemporary Arts Center); Infinite Regress: Mystical Abstraction from the Permanent Collection and Beyond (Kemper Museum); Jacques-Henri Lartigue: The Proof of Color (Atelier EXB); and Neal Slavin: When Two or More: Are Gathered Together (Damiani).

Neal Slavin with Kevin Moore: When Two or More Are Gathered Together
Thursday, November 21, 6–7:30 PM
Jefferson Market Library
First floor, Willa Cather Room
425 Avenue of the Americas
New York, NY 10011

All events are free and open to the public. Register here.