Frank Stewart’s Nexus: An American Photographer's Journey, 1960s to the Present

The first complete monograph and retrospective on the sixty-year career of Frank Stewart, photographer of an astonishing range of intimate and empathetic images of Black life, music, and culture.

Frank Stewart’s Nexus presents an overview of the career of this noted photographer, who since the 1960s has captured spontaneous and sensitive portrayals of African American culture in many forms, including art, food, dance, and music—especially jazz. Best known for his work as senior photographer for Jazz at Lincoln Center, Stewart produced energetic street scenes and profound landscapes on his worldwide travels with the orchestra. The intimate and subtle relations between and among people are at the heart of Stewart’s art, whether shot at a Manhattan jazz concert, in the studio of artist Romare Bearden, or during a sacred rite in an African village. This sweeping survey of 103 images, with an artist interview and texts by multiple critical voices, illuminates the evolution of a remarkable career.


Exhibition Itinerary:

The Phillips Collection, Washington, D.C.: June 10–September 2, 2023

Artis–Naples, The Baker Museum, Naples, FL: October 14, 2023–January 7, 2024

Telfair Museums, Savannah, GA: February 9 – May 12, 2024

About The Author

Ruth Fine is former curator of special projects in modern art at the National Gallery of Art.  Fred Moten is a poet and professor of performance studies at NYU’s Tisch School of Fine Arts. Wynton Marsalis is artistic director of Jazz at Lincoln Center. Mary Schmidt Campbell is president emerita of Spelman College. Cheryl Finley is director of the Atlanta University Center Collective for the Study of Art History and Curatorial Studies. Frank Stewart has had numerous solo and group shows, including at the International Center of Photography, MOCA in Los Angeles, and the Corcoran Gallery in Washington. He has twice been granted a photographic fellowship from the National Endowment for the Arts, and he has published four books.