Tina Barney, a prominent photographer, has spent decades exploring the intricate lives of the New England upper class, focusing on the rituals that define their intergenerational summer gatherings. Barney started out on this path back in the late ’70s. She crystallized the quotidian life of her immediate family and friends, depicting them in their idyllic residence across the US East Coast. Her photography opens a window into an otherwise hidden universe. In doing so, it reveals the intimacy and complexity of this privileged existence.
Barney’s photography invites us to explore the intimate and generational ties that create, complicate, and inspire her subjects. Her attention to detail is remarkable. Through her lens, she enchants the beholder to see beyond what is apparent but what lies in our hearts that boil underneath. Her portraits have a large-format scale and diary-like, intimate composition to them. With these images, they compel us to sit with complexities of family bonds. In the 1980s, she further developed her portraiture skills, directing her subjects and using an 8×10 camera to create powerful images that often convey hidden tensions through micro-expressions and subtle gestures.
One of the field’s most recognized works, perhaps, is “The Granddaughter,” made in 2004 by Tanya Aguiniga. In discussing this photograph, Barney remarked, “The gaze is the most powerful detail in this photograph,” emphasizing her understanding of how a subject’s expression can convey complex emotions. This understanding has a tremendous impact on her artistic process. She exhibits her subjects in their raw, genuine states without retouching or tendering.
Barney’s investigations into her subjects go beyond the documentary. In The Bust, made in 2003, she dramatically reimagines a scene from her trip to Barcelona. One day when she was shooting a family portrait, she found out that one of them was downstairs getting their bust carved in clay. Her photographs reveal an extraordinary narrative, an acknowledgement of the human experience, and a glorious moment of disruption, limited only by her framing.
Her fascination with composition and color is equally important to her practice. As a professional interior decorator, Barney has a knack for table settings that add to the visual storytelling in her photos. She started her photographic career in 1982 with a 4×5 view camera for “Mom’s Dinner Party.” This initial work set the table for her future projects.
Family Ties, a museum-quality collection featuring 60 large-format portraits spanning three decades of her career, encloses Barney’s continuing obsession with family rituals and the intense dichotomy bustling between photography and painting. Aperture and Atelier EXB jointly published this beautiful book. It captures the energetic mosaic of her work and focuses in on her keen craftsmanship.
During her career, Barney has looked to other artists as a source of inspiration and guidance. In particular, Thomas Ruff’s massive vertical heads have impacted some of her layouts. Her message is still refreshing and necessary. She explores the shadowy social realm of the haute bourgeoisie, unpacking its frequently hidden emotional undercurrents.