Cy Twombly (1928-2011) — a celebrated painter and sculptor, but photographer as well — was American-born and educated, yet affectionately bound to European culture and sensibility. Inspired by Greek mythology and Mediterranean history, his work is rooted in the link between the past and present. While his musings on the past is at times blatant, like the litany of Greek figures ("Apollo Musagetes Phoebus Smintheus Agyieus Platanistius") scrawled on canvas, his reverence for history is more subtle in his photographic work.
The photographs, although chiefly serving as ideas and models for paintings or sculptures, reflect his thoughts on the past and the complex beauty of antiquity, in their own right. The photographs — soft, ethereal, colorful celebrations of fleeting moments — are inherently poetic. The photographs here make it clear how photography informed Twombly's successful career. We invite you to take time and pleasure in what you find in them.
— Catherine Rierson
Photos courtesy of The Lambert Collection in Avignon, France.
FeatureLe Temps RetrouvéCy Twombly’s photographs, although chiefly serving as ideas and models for paintings or sculptures, reflect his thoughts on the past and the complex beauty of antiquity in their own right.View Images
Feature
Le Temps Retrouvé
Cy Twombly’s photographs, although chiefly serving as ideas and models for paintings or sculptures, reflect his thoughts on the past and the complex beauty of antiquity in their own right.
Le Temps Retrouvé
Cy Twombly’s photographs, although chiefly serving as ideas and models for paintings or sculptures, reflect his thoughts on the past and the complex beauty of antiquity in their own right.
Trending this Week

Companion Pieces: New Photography 2020
The latest “New Photography” exhibition at MoMA has migrated online to offer up an immersive, digital experience of the work and process of eight artists asking the question: How do images speak to each other?

Announcing the 2021 LensCulture Art Photography Award Winners!
Announcing the winners of the 2021 Art Photography Awards! Discover the 41 remarkable photographers who have been selected for their vision, innovation and creativity.

Conceptual Photographs, the Neutral in Realism, and More
A short but wide-ranging conversation: from tactile, tangible connections to the photographic medium, to establishing an honest dialogue with portraiture.

The Americans
This is the photo book that redefined what a photo book could be — personal, poetic, real. First published in 1959, Robert Frank’s masterpiece still holds up — the selection of photos, and their sequence and pacing is fresh, rich, generous, and...

As Immense as the Sky
Calling the past into the present, Meryl McMaster’s otherworldly self-portraits draw on her Indigenous and European heritage, channeling photography as a tool to reclaim and reimagine these intertwined histories.

26 Black-and-White Photography Favorites from LensCulture
LensCulture’s editors revisit 26 of the most popular recent articles that feature black-and-white photography – portfolios, essays, interviews, exhibitions and book reviews.