PHOTOS - Making Faces: Images of Exploitation & Empowerment in Cinema at the MoMA

Take a detour off the main floor to the back gallery located just above the bottom floor cinema.  There is a fascinating collection of large black & white photos of iconic images & actors in films from the silent era through the 1970's.  The intriguing images are culled by the curator for aestheticizing ethnic  & gender expectations & exploiting actors.  There were some incredible photos to support this view.  The photo from "Guess Whose Coming to Dinner" shows the debonair Sidney Poitier with Isabel Sanford in an ironic, iconic image.  Sanford is giving Poitier a piece of her mind for overstepping his bounds & getting engaged to her white employer's daughter.  Sanford goes so far to say "And for a black man, you're not all that good looking anyway."  A groundbreaking film for its time (1967) when interracial marriage was controversial & illegal in 17 states.  The film also starred Spencery Tracy & Katherine Hepburn as Poitier's perplexed futures inlaws.  The extremely handsome & impressive Poitier, his lovely color blind fiancee, Hepburn & Tracy defused the ugliness of interracial condemnation.   Actors who were "exploited" or chosen to play blantant stereotypical "Uncle Tom" characters were Hattie MacDonald as Mammy in "Gone with the Wind," and Bill Robinson in "Uncle Tom's Cabin." These are powerful images to reconcile with.  Both incredibly talented actors are portrayed as exploited slaves.  McDonald is the first black performer to earn an Oscar which was for this role.  Poitier is the 1st black actor to win an Oscar in a leading role ("Lilies of the Field.")  A quote from Katherine Hepburn to Dorothy Arzner, the 1st American film director (1928-43) is represented.  "Isn't it wonderful that you've had such a great career, where you had no right to have a career at all."  Hepburn & Arzner had a very adversarial relationship while filming together.  Arzner & Hepburn both went on to film & portray women in very empowering & inspiring roles.   This collection of black & white photos is worth seeking out at the MoMA.