About 80 photographs by some two dozen of the best-known American photographers of the 20th century are on display in the Fulton Hall Gallery through April 8. All the works come from the university's permanent collection, representing about one-third of its photographic holdings.
This exhibition focuses on landscape photography, with special emphasis on the photographs of Ansel Adams (1902-1984), best known for his majestic mountain and wilderness views of the western United States. Many of his most famous images, including panoramic views of the Sierra Nevada Mountains, Death Valley and Yosemite National Park, are among the 25 examples of his work on display.
"White House Ruin Canyon de Chelly National Monument, Arizona" is a characteristic example of Adams' work. It depicts a huge, sheer cliff wall. Nestled in a hollow at its foot is a cluster of Pueblo dwellings, built by the Anasazi people about 1200, and then abandoned some 100 years later, perhaps due to a prolonged drought. The ruined dwellings are an integral part of the landscape, their shapes echoing those of the canyon walls, formed over 200 million years ago.
Adams' photograph makes us aware of the passage of time, symbolized by the ruins, and of the immense age of the canyon, whose striations are clearly visible. By showing the scene from a great distance, he also conveys the sense of a vast space, in which the human presence is dwarfed by nature.
In contrast to Adams' panoramic scenes, the six dye transfer prints (the term refers to an early type of color photograph) of Eliot Porter (1901-1990) depict more intimate views of nature, often focusing on the abstract patterns of close-up details. Examples include images of floating leaves and shimmering light reflections on rippled water, or of birch trees with dappled black and white trunks and bright yellow foliage.
Also represented in depth is Paul Strand (1890-1960), with six photographs. Five are from a set of black and white photographs of flowers and other plants from a garden in Orgeval, France, printed in 1958. The sixth work is Strand's well-known, 1931 palladium print (a photograph printed on special paper that contains this metal) of a Spanish mission church, "St. Francis Church, Ranchos de Taos, New Mexico," emphasizing the building's simple, massive forms and thick adobe walls.
Other well-known photographers include Edward Weston (1886-1958), whose famous "Nautilus Shell" of 1927 and "Pepper No. 30" of about 1930 are both in the show. By focusing on a single object, represented with incredible precision and clarity, Weston calls attention to its formal qualities: its contours, shapes, patterns, and textures, and abstract beauty, comparable to abstract sculpture.
The exhibition includes several almost completely abstract photographs. Notable examples are "Reeds, Oregon," by Edward Weston's son, Brett Weston (1911-93), whose white reeds against a black ground recall Asian calligraphy; and "Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts" by Aaron Siskind (1903-91), whose compressed space and gigantic boulders resemble certain abstract expressionist paintings.
In addition to landscapes and various nature motifs, the exhibition also includes a number of photographic portraits. Yousuf Karsh (1908-2002), perhaps the best-known portraitist of the twentieth century, is represented by eight photographs, including such well known works as Winston Churchill (1941), Ernest Hemingway (1957), Pablo Picasso (1954), and Muhammed Ali (1970).
The exhibition can also be seen as a survey of different photographic processes. Besides gelatin silver prints (black and white photographs), it also includes older processes, such as platinum or palladium prints and dye transfer prints, as well as more recent cibachrome prints (a type of color photograph) and quadtone digital prints (printed from an inkjet printer). A free pamphlet that explains the different processes is available to visitors.
credits: Ursula Ehrhardt http://www.dailytimesonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20070311/LIFESTYLE/703110347
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