Benefit, The Museum of Modern Art, June, New York City
Larry Fink
American, 1941–2023
1977
A gelatin silver black-and-white photograph that captures a close, candid moment of two people dancing at a museum benefit, intended to reveal the private intimacy and social codes beneath a public social ritual.
The tight crop and high-contrast light immediately arrest you—the weathered hand on the woman's bare back, the gardenia at his ear, and his half-shadowed smile make the scene feel both intimate and slightly intrusive.
Rooted in 1970s social-documentary practice, this work helped shift attention onto the private gestures of public life, treating gala rituals as sites for psychological insight and social critique.
Medium
Gelatin silver print
Dimensions
14 1/16 × 14" (35.8 × 35.6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of the artist
Accession
286.1990
Palette
Exhibitions
