“KIDS DANCING”: This photograph by Helen Levitt is featured in “Subjective Objective: A Century of Social Photography,” at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers University. The exhibit, with some 200 photographs, traces the history of documentary photography from the late 19th century to the present.

The exhibition “Subjective Objective: A Century of Social Photography,” which opened September 5 at the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers, traces the history of documentary photography from the late 19th century to the present, and the social aspects behind some of the world’s most recognizable photos.

“This exhibition reflects on the relationships between photography and truth, authenticity, objectivity,” notes Donna Gustafson, the Zimmerli’s Curator of American Art and Mellon Director for Academic Programs, who co-organized the exhibition with Associate Professor Andrés Mario Zervigón, who specializes in the history of photography, from the Department of Art History at Rutgers. “Public acceptance of photographs as visual evidence has made documentary photography possible. In turn, what we see, or what we think we see, tends to shape how we perceive historical and current events.”

Mr. Zervigón adds, “Most people accept an implied objectivity in documentary photography. But that acceptance has fluctuated over time, especially when questions arise about whether or not an image has been manipulated to accommodate a photographer’s motivation. We also have come to realize that photographers, as well as viewers, are subjective. The exhibition emphasizes that photographs are not as transparent as they seem; that they are part of the public sphere and need to be read in context.”

“Subjective Objective” provides that context, drawing on history, visual anthropology, material culture, and trends in art to contribute an understanding of photography as a public medium: a document rather than solely a work of art. Most works on view are by American photographers, many of whom captured an image of the United States that survives as a document of a particular era; it is less about a photograph’s objective truth than its psychological and material density. In addition, photographs by their European, Russian, and Soviet contemporaries demonstrate universal themes and concerns.

The exhibition includes some 200 photographs – by recognized and previously overlooked photographers – supplemented by artists’ books, original magazine spreads, a video, and Instagram posts.

The exhibit runs through January 7, 2018. Admission is free to the Zimmerli Art Museum at Rutgers. It is located at 71 Hamilton Street (at George Street) on the College Avenue Campus of Rutgers University in New Brunswick, and is open Tuesday through Friday, 10 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Saturday and Sunday, noon to 5 p.m., and select first Tuesdays of the month, 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. For more information, visit www.zimmerlimuseum.rutgers.edu or call (848) 932-7237.