Barbara Bosworth: Sun Light Moon Shadow Exhibition to Celebrate Historic Total Solar Eclipse in Cleveland

CLEVELAND (February 21, 2024)—The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) invites visitors to explore their relationship with nature and natural phenomena in its newest exhibition Barbara Bosworth: Sun Light Moon Shadow. Celebrating humans’ innate desire to find meaning in light, this exhibition is uniquely timed to coincide with the total solar eclipse Clevelanders will experience on April 8, 2024. The show will be on view in the Mark Schwartz and Bettina Katz Photography Galleries beginning on Sunday, February 25, through Sunday, June 30, 2024.

“My love of nature was shaped by my backyard woods and streams while growing up in Novelty, Ohio,” says artist Barbara Bosworth. “My love of art and science was shaped by the museums of Cleveland, including art classes at the Cleveland Museum of Art. It’s an honor to return to the place that was so formative to my experience and imagination, combining my love of nature with my love of Cleveland.”

Bosworth grew up going on nighttime walks with her father, gazing up at the sky. Sky gazing became a lifelong passion for her and served as the inspiration for this exhibition, which features eclipses, sunrises, sunsets, and the luminescent glow of fireflies. Nine monumental color images of the sky and heavenly bodies are joined by six intimately scaled black-and-white scenes of life and light on the earth. Seen together, they suggest how we endow astronomical phenomena with personal meaning.

“Light is everything in photography,” says Bosworth. “Photographing astronomical bodies fascinates me. Especially when you consider that the light must travel millions of years—an immense, unfathomable distance—to land on my film. My hope is that this exhibition will help visitors connect with nature in new ways, especially given the opportunity to experience the total solar eclipse in Cleveland.”

“Day will become night in Cleveland on the afternoon of Monday, April 8,” says Barbara Tannenbaum, curator of photography, chair of prints, drawings, and photographs at the CMA. “Imagine how terrifying this rupture in the fabric of everyday reality would be if you did not know that the sudden darkness was due to a total solar eclipse. As we go about our daily lives, our minds consumed by human affairs, rarely do we stop to ponder the immensity, power, and beauty of the celestial bodies. Barbara Bosworth: Sun Light Moon Shadow provides a chance to do just that.”

Bosworth’s work has been widely exhibited, notably in recent retrospectives at the Denver Art Museum in Colorado; Peabody Essex Museum in Salem, Massachusetts; Smithsonian American Art Museum in Washington, DC; and Phoenix Art Museum in Arizona. Integral to her style is the use of an 8 x 10 view camera, which holds an 8 x 10-inch piece of film. Setting up and operating the camera is a measured, steady process and slows down the act of making a photograph, adding to the contemplative nature of photography. It is the polar opposite of today’s practice of snapping away with one’s phone camera.

All exhibitions at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Exhibitions. Principal annual support is provided by Michael Frank and the late Pat Snyder, the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation, the John and Jeanette Walton Exhibition Fund, and Margaret and Loyal Wilson. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous supporter, the late Dick Blum and Harriet Warm, Gary and Katy Brahler, Cynthia and Dale Brogan, Dr. Ben and Julia Brouhard, Brenda and Marshall Brown, Richard and Dian Disantis, the Jeffery Wallace Ellis Trust in memory of Lloyd H. Ellis Jr., Leigh and Andy Fabens, the Frankino-Dodero Family Fund for Exhibitions Endowment, Florence Kahane Goodman, Janice Hammond and Edward Hemmelgarn, Marta Jack and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Carl T. Jagatich, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, William S. and Margaret F. Lipscomb, Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Roy Minoff Family Fund, Lu Anne and the late Carl Morrison, Jeffrey Mostade and Eric Nilson and Varun Shetty, Tim O’Brien and Breck Platner, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Michael and Cindy Resch, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art, and Claudia Woods and David Osage.

The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture.

This exhibition was supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Barbara Bosworth Delivers the Rupp Contemporary Artists Lecture
Join Barbara Bosworth on Saturday, March 2, at 2:00 p.m. in the museum’s Gartner Auditorium as she speaks about her photographs and the stories that shaped them. Her imagery, highlighted for its ethereal beauty and emotional resonance, explores the intersections of nature, humanity, and memory. Through her biographical storytelling, attendees will gain insight into her artistic process, inspirations, and the connections she forges between the natural world and human experience. This lecture is in conjunction with the CMA’s photography exhibition Barbara Bosworth: Sun Light Moon Shadow, on view from February 25 to June 30, 2024.  Free tickets are required to attend.

This lecture is made possible by the Fran and Warren Rupp Contemporary Artist Fund.

All education programs at the Cleveland Museum of Art are underwritten by the CMA Fund for Education. Major annual support is provided by Brenda and Marshall Brown, Mr. and Mrs. Walter E. Fortney, Eva and Rudolf Linnebach, and the Kelvin and Eleanor Smith Foundation. Generous annual support is provided by an anonymous supporter, the M. E. and F. J. Callahan Foundation, Char and Chuck Fowler, the Giant Eagle Foundation, the Lloyd D. Hunter Memorial Fund, Marta Jack and the late Donald M. Jack Jr., Bill and Joyce Litzler, the Logsdon Family Fund for Education, William J. and Katherine T. O’Neill, Mandi Rickelman, Betty T. and David M. Schneider, the Sally and Larry Sears Fund for Education Endowment, Roy Smith, Paula and Eugene Stevens, the Trilling Family Foundation, and the Womens Council of the Cleveland Museum of Art. 

The Cleveland Museum of Art is funded in part by residents of Cuyahoga County through a public grant from Cuyahoga Arts & Culture. 

Education programs are supported in part by the Ohio Arts Council, which receives support from the State of Ohio and the National Endowment for the Arts.