Steven Kasher Gallery

A standout in the Chelsea art gallery district.
It focuses only on fine art photography, but they’re almost always showing something interesting. Great past exhibitions include «Gilles Larrain: Idols» and «Rude and Reckless: Punk/​Post-​Punk Graphics, 1976 – 82.» I’m still kicking myself for missing «Max’s Kansas City.» (I’m slightly obsessed with punk rock.)
They also sell art books in the back, which is pretty cool.

I came here the weekend before Thanksgiving with my girlfriend, her brother and his friend. I had never been to the galleries in Chelsea, and am into photography, so we decided to make a day of it. This was the last gallery we went into, and I loved it. This gallery was a little larger than most, with room to move around. The exhibit this day was the Simply Beautiful photographs from National Geographic. Excellent exhibit to see if you’re into the beautiful and timeless landscape photos that are normally in NG magazine.

Very cool little photography gallery with a small, but very interesting art book store inside.

Maybe the place was great. But we went there 3 times, including times when the website said they’d be open, and they WEREN’T. It was extremely annoying. What we could see through the window was interesting, but definitely don’t head down till you’ve called first to check they’re open.

Art collectors typically snub their snobby noses upon documentary photographs, claiming this isn’t really fine art.
But the Steven Kasher Gallery in Chelsea — in its new ground-​floor location on 23^rd Street– doesn’t seem to mind. Its current exhibit of photos from the National Geographic Society, «The World in Black and White,» is a case in point.
The first of four exhibits from National Geo, this exhibit features about a dozen photographers dating back to the Society’s earliest days. The images are all completely vintage and hauntingly gorgeous. They represent the first time National Geographic has opened its sizable vault to the art world.
My personal favorites were the photos of China and Tibet from noted adventurer Joseph Rock; alpine landscapes of Ethiopia from Italian photographer Vittorio Sella; and (my personal favorite) images of Peru taken in 1915 by famed explorer Hiram Bingham.
Damn, these photos are so freaking cool. Bummer, «The World in Black and White» ends this Saturday, but there will be three more exhibits tied to the National Geographic, starting in June at the gallery.
This gallery deserves credit for taking a risk on presenting them as fine art. In my mind, these photos clearly present the world through a creative lens.