Spotlight: Robert Bergman: Portraits, 1986-1995

Opening Thursday: Something of a mystery man, this photographer apparently made his exhibition debut last fall at age 65. And not in some hole-in-the-wall gallery in an off-the-grid town, but with virtually simultaneous shows at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and at P.S. 1, a branch of New York's Museum of Modern Art (MOMA). Those coups were followed by a solo show -- again, his first -- at the fashionable Yossi Milo gallery in Chelsea. According to a rapturous review in the Wall Street Journal, curators at the two museums were separately inspired to organize the shows, which consist of 30 color portraits of anonymous people whom Bergman encountered while rambling about the country between 1986 and 1995. The newspaper described the pictures as "intense, soul-stirring, intimate," and said they "are wonders, sharp, beautifully lit." Other fans include the late art historian Meyer Schapiro, novelist Toni Morrison and art collector Agnes Gund, former president of MOMA. Born in New Orleans, Bergman grew up in Minnesota and continues to divide his time between New York and Minneapolis, where a show of his portraits, including the one shown here, opens next week. Buoyed by such endorsements, expect great things. (Opening reception, 6-9 p.m. Thu., free. Minneapolis Institute of Arts, 2400 3rd Av. S. Ends Aug. 22. Free. 612-870-3000 or www.artsmia.org)