FOR 5-11

JIM MCGUIRE’S ‘NASHVILLE PORTRAITS’ OPENS MAY 11 AT FRIST CENTER

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NASHVILLE, TENN. — The Frist Center for the Visual Arts will open “Jim McGuire: The Nashville Portraits,” Friday, May 11, paying homage to Nashville’s country music heritage through 60 black and white photographs of such musicians as Johnny Cash, Emmylou Harris, Dolly Parton and Bill Monroe taken by local photographer Jim McGuire. The exhibition continues through September 9. Appropriately, the Frist Center is the inaugural venue for this nationally traveling exhibition.

A native of New Jersey, McGuire moved to Nashville in 1972 to pursue his interest in music and the people who made it. Since then, McGuire has become the preeminent photographer in his field.

As the photographer of choice for many major record labels and their recording artists for more than 30 years, McGuire has shot hundreds of album and CD cover portraits, thereby helping to define the public’s perception of performers as disparate as Carole King and Doc Watson, Townes Van Zandt and Reba McEntire, Tracy Nelson and Dolly Parton.

Once the official business is finished, though, McGuire often asks the musicians to pose for his personal project — the “Nashville Portraits” series, which captures each individual against a neutral backdrop with only his or her instrument as an accessory.

Inspired by photographer Irving Penn’s portraits of tradesmen in their work clothes, McGuire began this series in 1972 with a photograph of singer/songwriter John Hartford. The series now includes more than 1,000 images of America’s most influential singers, songwriters and musicians.

The Frist Center for the Visual Arts is at 919 Broadway. For information, 615-244-3340 or www.fristcenter.org.