PRESS RELEASE
ENCORE revisits Mark S. Kornbluth’s historic photographs of Broadway theaters created during the 2020-21 closure
Solo exhibition features newly released images from the artist’s celebrated series
March 24, 2025, New York, NY —Five years after the start of Broadway’s Great Intermission—the 18-month period when the Covid pandemic forced theaters to close—Mark S. Kornbluth has released new images in his historic portrait series DARK.
DARK comprises large-format photographs of Broadway theaters that quickly became symbols of the resilience of New York City, and a poetic tribute to the power of the arts for healing and human connection. While the buildings themselves awaited the return of actors and audiences, Kornbluth saw the opportunity to shift the spotlight to these sentinels of Times Square, many of them architectural marvels who play understudy to the incredible talents they house. Trained as a professional actor, with close friends affected by the unprecedented interruption of live performances, Kornbluth began the series as his own artistic homage to the age-old mantra “the show must go on.”
ENCORE is a reprise of Kornbluth’s 2023 solo exhibition that features beloved photographs from the original collection as well as several new releases on view for the first time. Collector favorites like Richard Rodgers, in which the Hamilton marquee poignantly declares “History is Happening in Manhattan,” are on view alongside The Phantom of the Opera at the Majestic Theatre, nearing the end of its record-setting run. Kornbluth took his photographs at night, with streetlights serving as stagecraft, and theater signage as dialogue. There are no passersby in the images, but each artwork nevertheless comes alive with its own sort of humanity. Kornbluth succeeds in capturing the presence of absence, and in doing so, reflects a shared and profound experience.
Theaters depicted in ENCORE include Ambassador, Barrymore, Belasco, Booth, Kerr, Lyceum, Lunt-Fontanne, Music Box, New Amsterdam, Radio City Music Hall, Shubert, and more. Broadway productions include legendary shows such as Chicago, Moulin Rouge, The Music Man, and West Side Story. The large-format photographs, printed as dye sublimations on aluminum, are immersive and luminous testaments to the grandeur and indomitable spirit of New York. This is an encore performance not to be missed.
The exhibition opens Thursday, April 17, with an artist reception from 5–7 p.m., and runs through Saturday, May 17, 2025, at Cavalier Gallery, 3 W 57th Street, 4th floor. View the photographs online at cavaliergalleries.com.