A different kind of light-based imagery fills an adjacent gallery. Here, powerful tableaus shot by master photographers capture urban street life around the world.
Also curated by Mr. Belasco, “On the Street and in the Studio: Photographs Donated by Howard Greenberg” is a two-part exhibition of selections from the 1,148 photographs given to the Dorsky by Mr. Greenberg, an influential photography dealer, gallerist and collector. “On the Street” is open now; “In the Studio” will explore portraiture starting in August.
In choosing prints, Mr. Belasco aimed to reflect Mr. Greenberg’s aesthetic. “All of these photographs spring from his taste, his sensibility, his passion,” he said. “I wanted to honor that.”
“On the Street” presents 39 primarily 20th-century black-and-white prints by photographers including Eugène Atget,Allen Ginsberg and Bruce Davidson. Some are devoid of people. In an untitled image taken by Berenice Abbott around 1935, a large building looms ominously over Manhattan’s rooftops. In Aaron Siskind’s “Chicago 8,” splashes of paint on a brick wall suggest an Abstract Expressionist painting.
Other photographs portray city dwellers engaged in sundry activities. They walk on a street lined with markets and motorbikes in Henri Cartier-Bresson’s “Ahmedabad, India.” They are absorbed in solitary contemplation in Paul Wolff’s “Florence, on the Arno.” They eye the camera boldly in Jacob Riis’s “The Short Tail Gang (Corlears Hook) Under Pier at Foot of Jackson Street.” They scramble and shove in a frantic untitled nighttime composition by Weegee.
One wall showcases New York City scenes photographed during the 1940s and 1950s by Morris Huberland. Mr. Huberland was a member of the Photo League, a group of mid-20th-century social documentarians whose work Mr. Greenberg championed and acquired. He donated a total of 108 of Mr. Huberland’s photographs to the Dorsky. In “Harlem, New York City,” on view in the gallery, a boy perches on a ledge, his arms and legs aligning with a brick building, a fire escape and a metal fence to form a mesmerizing confluence of angles.
During an interview, Mr. Greenberg commented on the photographs he collected. “They were pictures that spoke to me on a deeper level,” he said. “They were photographs that made me feel what any collector would feel: strong.”
Despite their disparate content, the three shows share a common element: the Hudson Valley. Mr. Greenberg established his first gallery in Woodstock and has since maintained his connection to the area, donating works to other local institutions along with the Dorsky. Mr. Berkhout lived in the Catskills from the early 1990s until his death in 2008. And most of the participants in “Made for You” live and work in the region.
“There is a wonderful spirit of cooperation and community among the artists and designers of the Hudson Valley,” Ms. Scanlan said.