Aletti on "First Seen"

Vince Aletti has posted his review of "First Seen", a collection of early portraits from around the world being shown at the Dahesh Museum of Art through May 1. (I say "posted", as if the Village Voice was just another blog. Weird.) I am a big fan of early photography, and the Dahesh's curatoral sensibilities, so I'm eager to see this show should I get a chance. Aletti's conclusion:

Because the nearly 250 images gathered here come from an important private collection, they are uncommonly good (with fine examples by Felice Beato, Roger Fenton, Hill and Adamson, Charles Nègre, and other key figures) and instructively wide-ranging. It's useful to see George Sand, in her natty suit and tie, in the same space with a helmeted samurai, a group of Turkish street peddlers, and a pair of recumbent opium smokers. Exoticism is in the eye of the beholder.