GOLD COAST — An exhibition of photojournalist Steve McCurry’s work will bring the world to the Magnificent Mile on Friday.
“Icons,” opening at the Loyola University Museum of Art, 820 N. Michigan Ave., is a retrospective of four decades of work by McCurry. The exhibition makes its U.S. premiere after appearing in Australia, Argentina, Spain, Portugal and Mexico. The show’s international pedigree is appropriate, given that McCurry took the images across the globe.
The photographs include a striking shot of two men straddling an old locomotive in India as it chugs past the Taj Mahal. Then there’s a solitary robed figure in rural Jordan, dwarfed by a vast rocky landscape, all in hues of orange and brown. Its inverse is a colorful image from urban Havana, Cuba, where a silhouetted man is framed by Barbie-pink walls and a mint-green car.
McCurry’s most famous image, by far, was taken in a refugee camp on the Afghanistan-Pakistan border in 1984. That’s when McCurry, embedded with the Afghan mujahideen at war with the Soviet Union, encountered a girl with remarkable green eyes and a piercing gaze.
A few months later, his “Afghan Girl” portrait appeared on the cover of National Geographic. It came to represent the plight of displaced people around the world, making it perhaps the most recognized photo in the magazine’s history.
In 2016, CNN dubbed the image “the world’s most famous photograph.”
“A lot of people, including myself, knew McCurry’s work before his name,” said Kyle Mathers, Loyola University Museum of Art manager, who spoke to Block Club last week as enormous crates carrying the framed photographs were arriving from Mexico City and Milan.
The museum might be little-known compared to giants like the Art Institute of Chicago and the Museum of Contemporary Art, but showcasing “Icons” during the holiday season could help change that.
“Steve McCurry wanted a cultural institution in Chicago to host his exhibit,” Mathers said. “Given that LUMA’s a museum right on the Mag Mile, it seemed like a perfect fit.
“Our core collection is largely European, but we’ve got art from around the globe. A lot of the temporary exhibits we’ve hosted before have that international perspective.”
“Icons” visitors can stroll the exhibit at their own pace or download an audio guide for additional insight. Narrated in McCurry’s own words, the audio experience takes about an hour, leading visitors through the stories behind the 40-plus photos.
Unsurprisingly, many viewers still want to learn more about “Afghan Girl.” Her identity remained a mystery until 2002, when McCurry returned to Afghanistan for a follow-up report. This time, the country was at war with the United States. The photojournalist and his NatGeo crew found Sharbat Gula, then in her early 30s, still living near the Pakistan border.
The portraits of Gula perfectly demonstrate one of McCurry’s stylistic choices: depicting the diversity of the world’s landscapes and cultures by focusing on individuals. As the Philadelphia native explained to The Washington Post 20 years ago: “I look for the unguarded moment, the essential soul peeking out, experience etched on a person’s face.”
“Icons” is scheduled to run through Feb. 1. The Loyola University Museum of Art is open seven days a week. Tickets to “Icons” are on sale for dates through Thanksgiving weekend, ranging from $20.70-$27.
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