History

Presented to the public for the first time, David Levinthal's History series is the culmination of the photographer's work over the past thirty-five years. Like his previous series, History speaks to the way in which imagery derived from the mass media infiltrates memory, imagination, and identity. With vintage toy figurines and play sets he creates elaborate scenes based on events in history, especially as they are depicted in movies and on TV. Levinthal then photographs the constructed scenes and creates large, history-painting-sized prints. The compositions are reminiscent of famous images from art, literature, and visual culture.