Jeff Wall, A Sudden Gust of Wind (after Hokusai), 1993, transparency in lightbox, 90 1⁄8 × 148 3⁄8 inches (229 × 377 cm) © Jeff Wall, Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum.

Jeff Wall’s photographic process has changed multiple times over the almost fifty years he has been making art. The retrospective at the Glenstone Museum, the largest of his work in the United States since 2007 and the first exhibition of his work in the DC area since 1997 highlights all the different processes that Wall has used in order to make an image.

The range of work included in the exhibition highlights the earliest backlit transparencies that he is most known for, and covers the silver gelatin prints and inkjet prints he has made especially in the last twenty years. No matter the process that Wall uses, he continues to capture similar themes within his photographs. His work dares to address philosophical themes and retain heavy influence from both art and literature. The images that he captures are both painterly and cinematographic.

Picture for Woman, 1979 responds to the famous Manet painting, A Bar at the Folies-Bergere, and places the figure whom the woman is conversing with in the painting, directly into the photograph beside the woman, making him a subject equal to the female model. In this case, as Wall is one of the subjects of his own photograph, he uses this change in perspective to question the role of the photographer, bringing the male gaze of the artist into full view, the indifference on the model’s face clear as Wall makes her “captures” her for his image.

Other works, such as Mimic, 1982 and A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai), 1993, seem cinematographic, capturing a scene in motion. One wouldn’t be surprised if suddenly the image began to move, showing the motion in action. A Sudden Gust of Wind (After Hokusai) also works as an allusion to a series of woodblock images by the Japanese artist Katsushika Hokusai, recreating this image as a modern photograph.

Jeff Wall, Summer Afternoons, 2013, two color photographs, male, 72 × 83 5⁄8 inches (183 × 212.5 cm)
female, 78 3⁄4 ×98 5⁄8 inches (200 × 250.5) © Jeff Wall, Courtesy the artist and Glenstone Museum.

Another theme that is deeply prevalent in Wall’s work is urban decay. In staged scenes, Wall continuously uses his camera to highlight an inevitable outcome of the decadence and monotony of urban life, creating a world filled with death and decay. The Destroyed Room (1978) illustrates this perfectly, as a room is completely torn to shreds, ransacked by an unknown individual or individuals, to the point where even the walls themselves are ripped open and the door is completely ripped off of its frame. Other images in the exhibition continue to show this theme of decay. A Vampire’s Picnic (1991) functions as a critique of contemporary society, displaying well dressed members of society, both young and old, literally feeding off of the blood of other humans in a beautifully staged scene. They profit and gain stronger as they suck the life out of other members of society. The image invites the viewer to ponder, as he does with many of his photographs, what is it that will lead to this scenario, and is there a better way?

This fifty year survey of Jeff Wall’s work will be open to view at the Glenstone Museum through March 2022.