Too late, and two gems at the Portland Museum of Art…
It’s over, but I got there just before it closed. I’m talking about the New Acquisitions 2009: In Black and White exhibit at the Portland Museum of Art. I’m sure many of my readers saw this, so I’m not telling you anything new here, but I was really tickled to see some of these acquisitions/gifts before they go back into storage.
Chansonette Stanley Emmons’ archive is at the UNE Maine Women Writers Collection (MWWC), I think, but I’ve not been able to get an appointment to see it. So, I was glad to see this set of six small images gifted by Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. to the PMA. Five of the images are landscapes and lovely ones. 
Chansonetta Stanley Emmons
United States, 1858 – 1910
Dorothy [Emmons] on the Rocks at Ogunquit, Maine, 1910
gelatin silver print
4 x 5 1/2 inches
Gift of Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr.
The sixth Emmons is an interior titled “Shelling Corn, Kingfield, ME, 1901″ as only Ms. Emmons could do an interior. The picture is as sweet as the corn they were shelling.
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Paul Strand
United States, 1890 – 1976
Tailor Apprentice, Luzzara, Italy, 1953, 1994
platinum print
8 x 6 1/4 inches
Gift of Owen W. and Anna H. Wells
Another big winner was the exquisite Paul Strand “Tailor Apprentice, Luzzara, Italy 1953″. I am a big fan of Strand’s work. Diane Arbus’ “Mrs. T. Charlton Henry in an Evening Gown, Philadelphia, PA 1965″ was a joy to see and we went back to look at it again – what a great image to have in the Museum’s collection. Can you honestly look at this without grinning?
Diane Arbus
United States, 1923 – 1971
Mrs. T. Charlton Henry in an Evening Gown, Philadelphia, PA, 1965
gelatin silver print
14 1/2 x 14 3/4 inches
Gift of John S. Ames, III
There’s a really good set of Jon Edward’s work as well as a Cartier-Bresson, Todd Webb, and images from the Vernon Reed series “Operation Potato”. And so the collection grows – and nicely.
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There are two gems in the Museum these days and I didn’t expect to see them. I should have seen them at the Committee of 100′s pre-opening gathering for the Objects of Wonder exhibit a couple of weeks ago, but I was too busy gabbing to spend serious time in the exhibit, I confess. However, I’ve been back twice this past week to give the exhibit my full attention and was rewarded especially by the two gelatin silver photographs (of about 8 photographs included in the exhibit) by Lilo Raymond and Robert Mapplethorpe.
“Peony”, 1984 by Raymond is one of those perfect photographs – always fresh, and just what you want to see sometimes when everyone is complicating their work to the nth degree: simple. Lovely, perfect, wish I owned it. In my ignorance, I’ve never heard of Raymond and her website is very spare. There is bio info. on the card next to the photograph and you can read more about her and see a few more like images here as well. (2/25 update: I just noticed while flipping through the Jan/Feb PHOTOGRAPH magazine that Raymond passed away last year.)
When I look at Mapplethorpe’s “Carnation” 1982 I just marvel. How he did he do it time after time – giving us totally unique images of whatever he chose to photograph? This photograph is worth studying – he was a fanatic about everything when setting up a photograph I’ve read, but the result is like a Sargent portrait – these geniuses make it look so easy, the viewer sees none of the tension and utter mastery behind the final product. “Carnation” – it’s wonderful to have it there to visit again many times before this exhibit ends on June 6.
