Since the earliest days of its invention, photography has sought to depict, categorize, enhance, romanticize, expose, elevate, and explore identity through the form of the portrait.  The medium's innate capabilities have allowed it to be used for a multitude of purposes ranging from the artistic to the administrative, the sublime to the mundane. 

In a groundbreaking three-part exhibition, drawn from the private collection of Nigel Maister, Director of the UR International Theatre Program, Face Value: Approaches to Portraiture explores some of the many ways portraiture has developed and redefined itself over its 180-year history, and argues for an expansive view of, and approach to the genre that incorporates on an equal level both the functional (or vernacular) and the self-consciously artistic. 

In three locations from Spring 2025 through 2026

• Part I on view at the Hartnett Gallery (January 21-February 22, opening January 23 from 4-6 p.m.)
• Part II on view at Frontispace (Art & Music Library, Rush Rhees; January 21 to February 16th, 2025). 
• Part II: TBA.  

As part of this project, courses are invited to engage the exhibition space as a pedagogical tool, as well as participate in a series of talks and conversations open to the public.