'Presence' at Norton examines humanity through lens of Judy Glickman Lauder's collection

Judy Glickman Lauder’s collection began with an image of a woman.

She saw the photograph while working as a docent at the Frederick S. Wight Art Gallery at the University of California, Los Angeles, where she was doing postgraduate work in photography. It was among an exhibition of photographs from the collection of musician Graham Nash, of Crosby, Stills & Nash fame.

More: Seen Through the Artistic Eye: Norton previews Judith Lauder's photography collection

The black-and-white image captured a woman, fives times over, weaving in and out of thin trees.

Jerry N. Uelsmann’s “Small Woods Where I Met Myself” would become the first image in Glickman Lauder’s collection, a catalog of images that now stands at roughly 700 photographs.

A selection of nearly 110 photographs from 56 artists from that expansive collection is on display through March 10 at the Norton Museum of Art in West Palm Beach, in the exhibition “Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder.”

“Every image in that exhibit has a certain presence for me. It kind of speaks to me,” Glickman Lauder said. In turn, Lauren Richman, the Norton’s curator of photography, chose a set of images that spoke to her and that she felt would resonate with people in Palm Beach, Glickman Lauder said. “She did a super job.”

The exhibition is divided into four themes: Portraits, Admiration and Delight; Expressions of Place; Specters of History; and Politics, Labor and Justice.

Photographers featured in “Presence” include Richard Avedon, Irving Bennett Ellis, Dorothea Lange, Sally Mann, Gordon Parks, Joyce Tenneson and James Van Der Zee.

“The human presence” is what typically draws Glickman Lauder — herself a photographer — to an image.

“You develop film and you make a contact sheet, and the contact sheet might have 36 images on it, and you look at those and maybe four will kind of pop out and speak to you,” she said. “Those are the ones you want to print and that you want to see what you can do with it. It’s the same when you’re looking at a whole lot of images.”

“Presence” examines the range of human life, portraying celebrations and moments of sheer happiness — as in “Suzie, Bahama Beach Club, Portland, Maine” by Melonie Bennett, where the photographer's subject strikes an exuberant pose — to moments that are a darker side of the human experience — as in “Marilyn Monroe, Actress” by Richard Avedon, where the famed photographer captured the actress looking downcast while wearing a shimmering dress, five years before her death.

“It’s just an incredibly unguarded moment,” said Anjuli Lebowitz, the Judy Glickman Lauder Curator of Photography at the Portland Museum of Art, who organized that institution’s original showing of “Presence.” “And then the sheer formality of it, that it’s such a beautiful portrait.”

If the name Lauder rings a bell, there’s a very good reason for that: The Lauder family has been in Palm Beach for decades and Lauder’s husband, Leonard Lauder, is the son of beauty magnate and groundbreaking businesswoman Estée Lauder, who with her husband Joseph settled part time on the island in the 1950s.

While Glickman Lauder’s photography collection began with the image by Uelsmann, her love of photography began in childhood.

Her father, Irving Bennett Ellis, was an award-winning hobby photographer who was a fellow of the Royal Photographic Society of Great Britain, as Lauder is now. Ellis’ giant Graflex camera was a constant presence in the family, Lauder said. And although her two older brothers weren’t fans of being in front of the camera, a young Judy was happy to step in front of the lens, she said.

Ellis’ photos of Glickman Lauder throughout her childhood into early adulthood formed the basis for the iconic Kodak “Turn Around” commercial from the early 1960s. As a heartfelt ballad played, Ellis’ photos of Lauder formed an emotional slideshow that ended with a call to action: “One little girl, one precious childhood, saved for years to come in pictures. You can do it, too. All it takes is a camera, Kodak film and thoughtfulness,” a female voice said.

Among the photos on display at the Norton is one of Ellis’ photographs of Glickman Lauder’s mother, Louise Weinstein Ellis. The superimposed photograph shows the family matriarch at once laughing and smoking a cigarette, while also pausing for a moment of apparent introspection.

While Glickman Lauder spent plenty of time in front of the camera as one of her father’s favorite subjects, she also spent time learning from him, and his cadre of famous photographer friends, including Ansel Adams and Edward Weston.

“I kind of had a head start growing up in photography, and I knew beautiful black and white images and papers and composition,” she said.

When she began her collection in the early 1970s, she never thought about herself as a collector. But as her own photography career took off and the number of photographs in her collection grew, that’s what she became — along with a philanthropist, humanitarian and advocate.

“I kind of just kept finding these incredible images, and pretty soon I had no more room in my drawers or on my walls or anything,” Glickman Lauder said.

For years, Glickman Lauder’s collection has been housed at the Portland Museum of Art in Maine. She planned to bequeath the collection to the museum, but moved up the timeline on her donation after a conversation with her husband.

“Leonard said, ‘Judy, give it to them in your lifetime. You’ll just have fun,’ ” she said. “I’m so glad I listened to Leonard because when I tour a group through the collection and I see their responses … it just gives me such joy.”

The collection is distinguished by Glickman Lauder’s eye for photography, Lebowitz said, pointing to Glickman Lauder’s first collected image by Uelsmann as an example of that refined eye.

“It’s such an incredibly sophisticated picture, to be the first one that you would add to start a collection,” Lebowitz said. “It’s both negative and positive. It’s reversed, and upside down, and it’s also psychological as well as formalist.”

Having Glickman Lauder’s collection at the Portland Museum of Art — in an area of Maine that Lauder said has become “my soul” — has been transformational, Lebowitz said.

Glickman Lauder’s first gift of photographs to the museum was in the 1990s, Lebowitz said, and Glickman Lauder now serves on the museum’s board. Her donation of her entire stock of almost 700 photographs grew the museum’s photograph collection by 25%, Lebowitz said.

“It’s this incredible jump start to what will be a big part of our mission in the years going forward, and also serve as a great foundation for expanding the collection in different ways, and creating different conversations amongst photography and other media,” Lebowitz said.

In addition to exhibiting a portion of her collection, the Norton also has for sale copies of an accompanying hardbound book, “Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder,” published in 2022.

“The book gives the essence of what it’s all about, and you’ll see images that aren’t in the exhibit,” Glickman Lauder said.

The Norton Museum is “incredible,” Glickman Lauder said.

“We’re so lucky to have it right here,” she said. “It’s just amazing, with the architecture and the banyan tree and everything. So I’m very thankful.”

If you go

What: “Presence: The Photography Collection of Judy Glickman Lauder”When: Through March 10Where: Norton Museum of Art, 1450 S. Dixie Highway, West Palm BeachInformation: norton.org

This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Daily News: Norton Museum explores photography collection of Judy Glickman Lauder