Tina Barney b. 1945
"My selection of subjects has always been instinctive. There is no rhyme or reason to my choices. Sometimes a flash of memory, which could come from a movie, a work of art, a childhood friend, or maybe a fashion statement, will spark interest in a particular person. They always feel like deep, dark secrets that I keep to myself." –Tina Barney
Tina Barney’s life in photography began in the 1970s by capturing the rhythms and rituals of those closest to her. Her early intuition for directing the eye through composition is demonstrable in these works, informed by her love of the Old Master paintings she studied in museums throughout her youth. Characterized in part by idiosyncratic crops that bring reflective attention to even the subtlest gestures of their subjects, Barney’s works explore the unspoken tensions and intimacies that abound in families and friendships with affectionate humor.
Born in New York City, Barney developed her interest in photography as a Junior Council member at MoMA in the early 1970s, which exposed her to fine art photography for the first time. She began practicing photography in Sun Valley, Idaho, where she moved with her family in 1973 until returning to the East Coast in 1982. Spending her summers in Rhode Island, Barney first documented the behavior of her friends and neighbors, caught between intense concentration and restlessness. As a visiting artist at the American Academy in Rome between 1996 and 1998, Barney began to travel to six European countries through 2004, where she turned her attention to the social customs of each foreign country. Through the 1990s until today, Barney's editorial and fashion work for leading magazines and newspapers has sharpened her focus outside of domestic life. Having established her reputation in the realm of portraiture, Barney publicly debuted her work in landscape photography in 2018, a practice she began on her own in the late 1980s. She lives and works between New York and Rhode Island.
museum exhibitions & collections
Barney has exhibited extensively across the US and Europe, staging major solo exhibitions at the Jeu de Paume, Paris (2024-25), New Orleans Museum of Art (2015-16), Frist Art Museum, Nashville, TN (2015), Barbican Art Gallery, London and Museum der Moderne Salzburg (2005-06), Netherlands Foto Instituut, Rotterdam and Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany (1999), Columbus Museum of Art, OH, Parrish Art Museum, Water Mill, NY and Allentown Art Museum, PA (1999), and the Museum of Modern Art, New York (1990), among other museums. She has participated in landmark group exhibitions including those at Kunsthalle Wien (2017), Haus der Kunst, Munich (2006), The Museum of Modern Art, New York (2004, 1983), and the Whitney Biennial (1987).
Barney's work has been published in numerous artist monographs over the course of her career. In 1991, she was awarded a fellowship from the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship, and she received a Lucie Award in 2010. Her work is held by major collections including the Museum of Modern Art, New York; Whitney Museum of American Art, New York; Art Institute of Chicago; Los Angeles County Museum of Art and San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, among many others.