Photographers Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg To Be Celebrated In New York Public Library Exhibition

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center highlights the theater photography of Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg in a new exhibition, opening May 1 through September 28, 2024.

The show, entitled Photo Call: The Theater Photos of Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg, features photography from the archives of the two prolific photographers that are part of the Billy Rose Theatre Division at the Library for the Performing Arts.

Curated by Doug Reside, the Lewis and Dorothy Cullman Curator of the Billy Rose Theatre Division, in collaboration with the photographers themselves, the exhibition presents an extensive selection of the many theater productions Marcus and Rosegg have photographed over the past four decades, and tells some of their fascinating and unique stories of their experiences capturing some of Broadway's most iconic images. The exhibition demonstrates the vast breadth of their work and the shows they captured, and, in some cases, their photographs are the only documentation we have of these productions. The show also captures the photographers' transition from analog to digital photography.

The exhibition showcases shows like Avenue Q, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Finding Neverland, Hamilton, Les Misérables, The Lion King and Wicked—as well as many more of Broadway and Off Broadway's biggest hits since the 1980s.

Photo Call: The Theater Photos of Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg is the first major exhibition of their photographs. The exhibition showcases the work that Joan Marcus and Carol Rosegg created over a period of unprecedented change in both theater production and photographic technologies and reflects on the rise of digital journalism and social media that now makes use of their images. Digital projections and newly made photographic prints are accompanied by video commentary about the iconic images taken by the two photographers who shared a Chelsea studio for many years while building their separate careers.

Since its origin in 1931, the Billy Rose Theatre Division of the Library for the Performing Arts has actively acquired theatrical photography and now houses one of the largest such collections in the world. In 2018 the Library acquired the photographs of theater photographers Carol Rosegg and Joan Marcus, who have photographed the New York theater scene for over 40 years. The exhibition places these photographers among the other major theater photographers of Broadway history, including Martha Swope, Kenn Duncan, Friedman-Abeles, and Florence Vandamm.

About the Library for the Performing Arts

The Library for the Performing Arts is dedicated to enhancing access to its rich archives of dance, theater, music, and recorded sound. As one of The New York Public Library's renowned research centers—and one of the world's largest collections solely focused on the performing arts—our mission is to amplify all voices and all of our holdings. At present, the collection at the Library for the Performing Arts includes upwards of eight million items, notable for their extraordinary range and diversity—from 11th-century music, to 20th-century manuscripts to contemporary hip-hop dance. The Library also is well known for documenting live theater, dance, and music, and is home to the Theatre on Film and Tape Archive, which houses over 8,000 recordings of live Broadway and Off-Broadway productions.

Photo Credit: Joan Marcus