RINEKE DIJKSTRA
Marian Goodman Gallery

Rineke Dijkstra is a Dutch-born and-trained photographer who came to prominence during the 1990s for her exquisite and poignant portraits of young people. Over the course of her career, Ms. Dijkstra has chosen to depict children and adolescents because, she has said, they have not yet formed a public face.

The photographer travels all over the world to find her subjects, capturing them as they undergo life-changing episodes such as military service or motherhood. Ms. Dijkstra’s quest to capture the naturalness of youth stands in contrast to the work of Annie Leibovitz, whose recent show at the Brooklyn Museum emphasized the public personae. Yet both Ms. Dijkstra and Ms. Leibovitz have backgrounds in commercial photography that strongly influenced the “documentary” style of their work as artists.

At Marian Goodman Gallery, a selection of Ms. Dijkstra’s large color photographs from 2003–2006 focuses intently, once again, on youthful figures. The settings for this series were verdant public parks from Brooklyn to China. The artist previously had photographed her sitters in austere interiors and barren outdoor vistas.

A little girl and her candy-colored scooter are featured in “Parque de la Ciudadela, Barcelona, June 4, 2005.” The child is full-figure and close to life-size in this print, which measures 42 1/2 inches by 50 inches. Her alert gaze is trancelike in its concentration outward. She dwarfs the soft-focus scenery floating drowsily in the background.

Ms. Dijkstra reaches for extreme candor through her hypnotic approach to realism. Her photographs mimic human vision yet hold the scene artificially still in a way that the eyes cannot. For some, this approach suggests classicism.

Far from aspiring to classicism’s rational ethos, however, Ms. Dijkstra relishes the enigmatic qualities of both individuals and view-camera portraiture. Her images remain stubbornly open questions.

Until February 17 (24 W. 57th St., between Fifth and Sixth avenues, 212-977-7160).