Alexandra Croitoru’s double portraits blend cynical humor and deadpan formality, mimicking standard compositions for such images. In each example, the man is seated and looks away from the camera, while the artist stands behind him, touching his shoulder and staring into the lens. Croitoru’s stereotypically masculine companions here are Adrian Năstase, prime minister of Romania at the time this work was made (who was later tried and imprisoned for corruption), and a bodybuilder who trained at her local gym.

Unless otherwise noted, all works are promised gifts of the Sir Mark Fehrs Haukohl Photography Collection. The collection comprises a total of 200 objects by eighty-one artists working in eighteen countries. The donation of this collection to LACMA and the Brooklyn Museum initiates a unique collaboration between the two museums. Over the next ten years, annual acquisitions will augment and diversify the collection, which will thus remain “in the now,” responsive to a changing world.