Review: “Ming Smith: The Need for Jazz” at the Portland Museum of Art

The recent death of the great Martin Parr reminded us that the best photographers tend to maximize everything about the technique that makes it different. Parr called his photographs of the progressive Britons “primary documentary,” which is what I’m trying to explain: the unreality of the subject meets the photographer’s hand in light, composition, focus, etc. The recently closed exhibition by Ken Ohara at the Whitney Museum of American Art, in which he sent cameras to random houses in the 1970s, presents one with the best camera after the 1970s.

Ming Smith (b. 1947) is another photographer who seemed to enjoy both the subjective and documentary aspects of photography, and his understanding of both aspects is on display in “Jazz Requiem—Notations in Blue,” a new exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art. The show collects work from the Detroit-born photographer’s travels in Europe in the 1970s and 1980s, capturing nightlife in both its glitz and glamor.

A good example of this combination is seen in Opera House Baroque (Italy), (1980). The composition here is excellent, it gives the feeling of the Tower of Pisa—the most beautiful image presented in this exhibition—because you first see the beauty of the friezes that decorate each balcony. Then you realize that everything is a small angle and moreover that there are all these people inside the balconies, long-haired esthetes who talk about the show and give chaotic life to the ancient emotion. The lowest-ranking ones look directly at Smith, again emphasizing the merits of the setting. Is that allowed?

While he excels at capturing these broad scenes of life, his portraits of people like Sun Ra and Pharoah Sanders are capable of depth. In Judith Jamison (1981) captures the dancer Alvin Ailey near a sunny window in the surrounding darkness. He may be yet another slanted and flamboyant structure, because he leans against the glass in a thin but sophisticated dress. The strongest part of this structure can actually be found at the top. The situation on that face is equally strong, if we are open to cooperation.

I don’t really know what’s going on inside Social Distancing, (1974)but it shows a group of people wearing papier-mâché masks, possibly celebrating celebrations, possibly in France. Not knowing the details is okay because this image is about his power of light and darkness. The centerpiece is an ethereal white bride. He wore a funereal-style human mask with closed eyes beneath a cord-like fur. In another context it might be scary but contrasted with the darkness of the nearby sunshade and strange clothing, it is therefore instead a source of pathos. His hand takes another beast, and he really focuses on these two crazy kids.

“Ming Smith: The Need for Jazz—Notations in Blue” is on view at the Portland Museum of Art through June 7, 2026.

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