Colby Museum’s hidden treasures…
We just got back from Colby College Museum of Art. There are some photograph treasures there right now, as well as the impressive Alex Katz collection and some wonderful American painters’ works upstairs.
But – to the photographs. Norma B. Marin (daughter-in-law of John Marin) collected photographs for over 40 years and samples from that collection, dating from 1902 to 1983, are on view at the Museum kind of for the foreseeable future, I guess. It’s an odd little group of 22 images that didn’t have any other connection from what I could see, but I was pretty darn happy to see several of the images.
New York at Night (1934) © Berenice Abbott. All Rights Reserved.
The star of the show is Berenice Abbott’s “New York at Night” (1934). When you stare at this, please remember the year it was taken and be awed. It is a spectacular photo and the word “spectacular” has nothing to do with the size of the print. It’s small. Small and beyond compare. Her “Woolworth Building” 1936 is another iconic Abbott – both images hit the photography community of the time right between the eyes and you’ll appreciate why when you see these vintage prints.
Cape Cod, 1972 © The Estate of Harry Callahan. All Rights Reserved.
Another print worth staring at is Harry Callahan’s “Untitled – From the series “Cape Cod” he made in the 1970′s. It’s 6″x7″ and exquisite in its simplicity, like most Callahans! Simple, but with the powerful punch of a champion boxer viewed in a match on TV with the sound turned off. It’s all visual punch.
Untitled (Nude), 1955 ©The Estate of Bill Brandt. All Rights Reserved.
The third image that knocked my socks off was Bill Brandt’s “Untitled (Nude)”, 1955. It’s a well-known image and when you see the vintage print you’ll swoon, it’s so gorgeous and a lot more subtle tones than the online version above.
The three Stieglitz photogravures are just lovely – again one of my favorite images that I’ve written about before, “The Hand of Man”, is in the group.
But here’s the secret: in the John Marin exhibit room adjacent to the photographs exhibit are some unexpected photographic nuggets: One is a tiny Stieglitz platinum print – a family portrait of Marin, his wife and son taken in 1921. Next to it is a 1953 painting (oil and graphite on canvas) that Marin made based on this portrait. He died that same year. The painting is titled “A Looking Back – The Marin Family”.
And then, to your left are four more photographic portraits, just of Marin himself: Arnold Newman (1947), Charles Sheeler (1951), Dorothy Norman (1947) and the beauty, the fantastic little gem: the 1928 portrait of Marin taken by Paul Strand in Georgetown, Maine. It’s all there in that little photo – the cigarette, the silhouette of the hat, the face in shadow, the dark tie on the white shirt.
In the room across the hall is an exhibit of African-American artists’ work and tucked into it is a fascinating portrait by James Van Der Zee titled “At Home, Josephine Becton (Variant)”, 1934. Take the time to look at the details in this vintage print – it’s a wonderful time capsule.
I always welcome the opportunity to view vintage prints of the masters and you aren’t going to have as many opportunities to do that in Maine as you might like, so take in the Colby exhibit and enjoy this small sip of heaven.
