"A World of Its Own" Photography Exhibit @ MoMA

The recently opened photography show @ the MoMA, "A World of Its Own: Photographic Practices in the Studio" is broad in subject matter, style (with a disproporational amount of black/white photos) and the artists' country of origin.  Photos range from the mid 19th C to the present, including video installations fill all 6 photography galleries with varying subthemes on the artist's studio.  The commonality being works made indoors - this left a large blank canvas. "It is possible for photographers to make or design objects that can be treated with light, thereby creating a world of their own which is in many ways as interesting as the visible external world."  More than a doz. countries were represented by more than 90 photographers.  It should be noted most  photographers shown are Amer. but many of foreign birth.  Works were represented from Nigeria, Japan, Germany, Switzerland, Czech Republic, Italiay, Israel, Iran and Lebanon.  The doz. black/white Lebanese photos of idential dimension all show men posed with different menacing weapons creating an ominous dread.  Included are a multitude of well-known names: Man Ray, Cindy Sherman, Brancusi, Edgerton, Maplethorpe Avedon.  Perhaps it feels a snub not to have been included. The only 2 celebrity shots were of Joan Fontaine (who recently passed) & several jovial photos of Charlie Chaplin.  I found many of the lesser known artists' works very compelling.  Note:  Greta Bratesceu (b. 1926)  a Romanian avant-garde artist works made during her country's oppressive regime.  There is an  obscure but arresting photograph by Peruvian photographer, Chambi (b. 1891) of a peasant.  Also make note of Nigerian photographer J.D. Ojeikere's cultural photos of women's hairstyles.  This beguiling & meandering exhibit looses luster with its blurred intent, seemingly all over the map.