War Games: David Levinthal

David Levinthal, a central figure in the history of American postmodern photography, has staged uncanny tableaux using toys and miniature dioramas for nearly 40 years. Mounted to celebrate the Corcoran Gallerys acquisition of a major, career-spanning body of work, this publication features the artist’s photography on the subject of war. Levinthal’s combat-related tableaux constitute a remarkable critique of the ways society experiences conflict through its portrayal. His groundbreaking project Hitler Moves East (1975-77), a series of imagined scenes from World War II’s Russian front, first established his reputation, becoming a touchstone for the iconoclastic generation of American photographers that includes artists like Cindy Sherman and Richard Prince. Wild West(1987-89), Levinthal’s best-known body of work, explores the American frontier and the American Indian Wars, filtered through the lens of Hollywood westerns and late-20th-century advertising. Mein Kampf (1993-94) luridly re-enacts Adolf Hitler’s theatrical rallies as well as horrifying scenes from the Holocaust. Levinthal’s I.E.D. (2008) echoes contemporary news imagery of our military campaigns in Iraq and Afghanistan.