The Ringling is currently featuring Posed: Portrait Photography from the Permanent Collection. The exhibition opened on June 30 at the museum, and will remain on view through Oct. 29.

Posed features portraits from the museum’s permanent collection, displaying faces from the very beginning to the end of the 20^th century. The exhibit includes the work of several well-known artists such as Richard Avedon, Cindy Sherman, Diane Arbus, Edward Weston and Andy Warhol.

Christopher Jones, associate curator of photography and new media at the Ringling, says that this exhibition is part of an ongoing program where the museum highlights its works from the permanent collection on a rotating basis. A lot of the works can only be exposed to UV light for a few months without acquiring damage, so they are changed out about every four months.

Jones says the Ringling is always thinking of new themes and different ways to approach topics and issues in art based on the permanent collection. Although this exhibition is centered around the same type of photo, Jones says that portraits can be approached in many different ways. “The idea is to look at all of the different ways in which individuals have been posed in portraits and different examples of photography from our permanent collection.”

The portraits in this exhibit represent a wide range of people and themes. A lot of the works reveal posed portraits of celebrities such as musicians, authors and artists, but some of the works are candid photos of anonymous, everyday faces.

Works by Mike Disfarmer represent an array of people living in the small town of Heber Springs, Arkansas, from the early 20^th century to mid-20^th century. There is also a collection of Polaroids from Andy Warhol’s entourage during the 1960s and '70s.

 “I think it’s something that is pretty accessible to a wide audience,” Jones says.  “Some of the photographs are of well-known people and we always enjoy seeing images, photos and portraits of people that we might know about or have heard about.”

More information on the exhibition can be found here.