VoxPhotographs Weblog

We made a quick stop at the Farnsworth Art Museum yesterday for one reason: to see the newly installed Emily Schiffer exhibit.

Schiffer is the recipient of the inaugural “The Arnold Newman Prize” – a collaboration between the Arnold and Augusta Newman Foundation, Photo District News, Maine Media Workshops and the Farnsworth Art Museum. It was established to reward “new directions in photographic portraiture”.

In 2005 Emily Schiffer established the “My Viewpoint Youth Photography Initiative” at the Lakota Sioux Cheyenne River Reservation in South Dakota. These dozens of black and white photographs are beautifully and arrestingly presented with simple lines of text snaking their way around the images. This very complete body of work, ranging in sizes from 3″x3″ to 16.5″x16.5″ (the one photograph that is larger, 48″x48″, and titled “Barefoot. Cactus.” is at the entrance to the exhibit) are telling a story of childhood play.

Barefoot.Cactus. (2005) © Emily Schiffer. Collection of the artist. All rights reserved.

I couldn’t help but note the similarity to the 20 years of photographs made by David Brooks Stess (exclusively represented by VoxPhotographs) of his fellow rakers up in Washington County, Maine. Yes, the photographs are black and white, and they are all shot in a spontaneous manner, but that’s not what I mean. The commonality is based on the deep bond the photographer has created over years with his/her subjects. There is no doubt that Schiffer loves these children and her photographs of them are saturated with this love and a respect that just can not be faked.

Free Fall (2005) © Emily Schiffer. Collection of the artist. All rights reserved.

W. Eugene Smith, creator of some of the most powerful photo essays appearing in Life magazine said “The most important thing in photography is knowing what the subject is about”. Amen to that.

“Cheyenne River” will be on view until January 16, 2011.  The Farnsworth website has not yet updated its Current Exhibitions page, but if you search for SCHIFFER you will find several notes on the artist, the prize and the exhibit of work. And the artist is promising to send pics of the installation soon.

But don’t be an armchair museum-goer. A day in the midcoast towns of Rockland, Rockport and Camden will net you some very satisfying art viewing (including this exhibit, all the great galleries in Rockland, CMCA and the new MMW gallery in Rockport) and tons of cool shopping, restaurants and just hanging out in the waterfront parks. Yep, I’m a fan.

If you’re looking for a place to worship on Congress St. in Portland, stop in at Susan Maasch Fine Art and Space Gallery and take your pick from two very different styles of service. Or get ecumenical and enjoy both in the same half hour.

I have no shortage of visceral reactions to photographs and am fortunate to see many stupendous images. But, even in a crowded gallery on First Friday a couple of days ago where I was viewing the works included in “212: A Portrait of a City” at Susan Maasch Fine Art, my first view of Tom Baril’s photogravure “Chrysler Building” transported me instantly to a very still and beautiful place.

Chrysler Building © Tom Baril. All Rights Reserved

On Mr. Baril’s website, it says there is a portfolio of architectural images available of  photogravures hand-pulled by Jon Goodman. The images exhibited in the “212″ show are printed by Jon Goodman.

Rarely have I seen such air in a photograph and the tones are so endless and lush that even this little electronic version of the image makes me hold my breath.

The “212″ show is small but well-selected and also includes 2-3 works each on view in a variety of processes from Scott Peterman, Todd Watts, Jack Montgomery, Keliy Anderson-Staley, and one 1972 silver gelatin print of Berenice Abbott’s “Greyhound Bus Terminal” (1936) reproduced below with the permission of Susan Maasch Fine Art.

Todd Watts’ two dye transfers are intriguing and mysterious, frankly. Although way too often photographers are asked “How did you do this?” and I disapprove of such a question, it would be the first thing out of my mouth if I happened to meet Mr. Watts in front of his two images in the show.

Brooklyn Bridge (Artifice and Artifact) © Todd Watts. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy Susan Maasch Fine Art

Jack Montgomery, known for his portraits of people, is bringing the same intimacy and concentration to his portraits of NYC. Small and emanating a sense of the deeply personal, these photographs beg you to push your face into them and spend some time reading their dark beauty. Wish there were more on view to round out an impression of this body of work. They are not represented on his website.

Brooklyn Heights © Jack Montgomery. All Rights Reserved. Courtesy of Susan Maasch Fine Art.

All of the artists in “212″ have more work available at the gallery for viewing so use the ones on view as a starting point. Then ask to see the remaining images and indulge in a full gallery experience. You know those people who work there? That’s what they are there for – to expand your world. Take advantage of it.

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Across the street and east a few feet is the cavernous SPACE GALLERY. Luckily Mark Rockwood told me yesterday about the show of Bill Daniel‘s work there or I would not have known about it – so I’m passing it on with high enthusiasm. I went right over Saturday afternoon and had the gallery to myself which I appreciated. It takes some concentration to put a full value on what you are viewing.

The most compelling pieces in the Bill Daniel show are the four fantastic black and white photographs of abandoned gas stations printed on big white tarps. I e-mailed Andy Graham at Portland Color to ask if they had been created there and the answer is yes. I don’t know about you but I have never seen anything like these. I have no image to pass on to you here but if you don’t get in to see this show sometime in August you will miss a very unique thing. Many of the walls are filled with other photos of varying sizes and mood, together with detritus described in the SPACE brochure as “unmapped photo-based work that is presented as the ‘ground score’ of an itinerant, obsessive collector of socioeconomic marginalia.” No way I could have paraphrased that one.

I took away the postcard SPACE printed about the show and will put it on my wall. It’s of my favorite photograph in the show: “Sailvan in Arizona (2006)”. Sometimes the simplest of objects are the most holy.

Sailvan in Arizona © Bill Daniel. All Rights Reserved.

For the hours of worship for both of these destinations, check out their websites.

In the lower level galleries at CMCA (Center for Maine Contemporary Art) there resides a very cool exhibit. The photographs by Meggan Gould in the first lower level gallery are just the perfect example of an original idea carried out to perfection. It’s the “Verso” part of the rather confusing (to me, anyway!) concept of grouping the two bodies of work together with a common theme. I didn’t get it at all looking at the two exhibits in person and hardly do now after reading the explanation on the CMCA website.

But the images in the “Verso” part are worth a stop at CMCA alone.When Gould inherited her grandmother’s photograph collection she discovered  on the backs of many of the photographs notes that hung out there in a sort of psychological geneological space.

Verso 16, from the exhibit “Verso” © Meggan Gould. All Rights Reserved.

In the photo above, Gould makes a vertical presentation of the back of this horizontal photograph and the simplicity of the presentation is magic. You can even bring the image home on a large card that includes Gould’s contact info. on the back. It’s on our refrigerator. We love it.

(Not as successful to us was the other exhibit by Gould in the further gallery downstairs – “Recto” I guess. I felt there were 3 very strong photographs in the group and the rest – although impressive for their print quality – were more about content than photographic success.)

Back to “Verso”. I have amassed a collection of vintage postcards of Belfast. On the front of one of them the words “Why so silent?” have been penned in the sky over the village of Belfast back in the horse and buggy days of 1905 . It was mailed on June 23 (at 1 p.m.! – those were the days!) and is addressed on the back to Miss Marcia Blaney of Waldoboro. This is before postcard backs were divided to allow room for a note as well as an addressee.

As with Meggan Gould’s “Verso” photographs, we can only write the stories ourselves now. The “Can I take it.” on the back of Verso 16 gives us nothing but itself and even the lack of a question mark at the end of the note is a major factor in divining its intent. Other images of bits of paper and numbers on the backs leave much to our imaginations. “Why so silent?” makes me sad every time I even think of it, let alone see it, penned over the village of Belfast for all the world to read as the postcard made its way from the saddened sender to the silent recipient.

You have until July 17 to see the Gould exhibits, and the artist is giving a presentation on June 27 at 2 at the gallery. It’s a special exhibit that is a terrific artistic grouping and that rewards its viewers with much to think about.

“Evan – horrible day” from the exhibit “Verso” © Meggan Gould. All Rights Reserved.

Warmth © Sarah Litchfield. All rights reserved.

We had hoped to go to the opening of the Boothbay  Region Art Foundation’s annual Maine Photography Show, but got waylaid and had to blow it off. Glad we didn’t make the trip – we heard the small gallery was so packed for the opening that even many of the artists couldn’t get in the door!

Two VoxPhotographs artists – Jim Nickelson and Arla Patch – have work in the show and I dropped by to see the show Friday on my way up the coast. It’s only up until May 8 and the gallery open just Fri -Sun, so if you can get there it needs to be fairly soon.

Untitled (Lower Androscoggin) © Jared DeSimio. All Rights Reserved

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Traditionally, it’s a show for all levels of photographers – a lot of shutterbugs and a few real pros. But I like to see what people of all levels are doing – especially digitally, seeing as the technology changes every minute! This year’s juror was John Paul Caponigro. Past recent jurors have been Elizabeth Greenberg of Maine Media Workshops and Susan Danly, Curator of Graphics, Photography and Contemporary Art at the Portland Museum of Art.

Fading Beauty © Felice Boucher. All Rights Reserved.

The first photograph in the show that made me catch my breath was Felice Boucher’s nude “Fading Beauty”. Not only was it a beautiful image, but it was beautifully presented – something many photographers need to do much better at. Boucher’s presentation indicated her respect for and investment in her own work before asking the rest of us to respect and invest in it – and if you want to be taken seriously as an artist, presenting your work properly is the first step.

As well, “Fading Beauty” is masterfully printed. Digital printing is a skill that needs to be developed and few digital photographers understand this. It’s too easy (and affordable) to purchase a decent printer and push the PRINT button. Sorry, folks. If you want to see superb quality digital printing, spend some time looking at “Fading Beauty” or Jim Nickelson’s ( www.nickelsoneditions.com is Jim’s digital printing business) “The Tarn” and then look at your own prints. If it doesn’t parallel the quality of these two images, do a favor for the fine art photography community and hire a skilled printer. Poor printing simply underscores the public perception that anyone can be a photographer. And certainly anyone can push a PRINT button, so that perception is not far off if your printing skills are not top-notch.

Wrench © Richard Barnett. All Rights Reserved.

Also in the stellar dept. are images by Elise Plakke (“Grey Day”), Jared DeSimio(“Untitled (Lower Androscoggin)”), Sarah Litchfield (“Warmth”) and Richard Barnett (“Wrench”). Gorgeous, original, all there.

Grey Day © Elise Plakke. All  Rights Reserved.

I also enjoyed  Heath Paley’s image (first place WATER category “Water Over Dam”), Sarah Petril (“Red Hat”), Liza Schlitz (diptych “Eat Beans”), Martha Lentz (“Solitary Tree”) and third place STUDENT award Ruth Gray’s “No Pictures Please”.

Water Over Dam © Heath Paley. All Rights Reserved.

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Solitary Tree © Martha Lentz. All Rights Reserved.

Thanks to the Boothbay Region Art Foundation for making space for this show. I hear their Art in the Park this year (Sept. 4) is going to be photography only. See you there.

The Tarn © Jim Nickelson. All Rights Reserved.

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.

Waiting For the Bus, 1978 © Joe Muir

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Well, that was fun! We stayed in Portland this Saturday for the opening of  Seeing Portland – 1970 to 1984 at Zero Station on Anderson St. in Portland… got there just after 5 and had a few minutes to look at the work before it became a mob scene.

Five Girls © Andy Graham

There are nine artists included in this show and all the photographs were taken by them in the 70′s and early 80′s. (One of the artists included, Mark Rockwood, is represented by VoxPhotographs.) The images range from straight documentary to ones like Andy Graham’s big square color print above, which have a more in-your-face feel to them. The exhibit was Andy’s idea and he and two others curated it.

Some of the images were so poignant it made me shiver in not-altogether-positive recognition. Hard to believe I started college in 1971 and when I did the math, I had to do it twice before believing how many years ago that was. Others felt the same and told me so. For those at the opening who actually grew up in Portland during those years, they could hardly contain their delight at the childhood memories these photographs provoked. Several people told me they KNEW the people in some of the photographs.

But I felt better when I saw the wonderful inclusion of blurbs and photographs of the photographers themselves in the 70′s. Honestly, you’ve got to see these to believe them.

Rose Marasco, head of the Photography Dept. at USM had a great collection of photo collage images – very cleverly done. Here’s my favorite:

Carroll and Clark St., Photomontage Series © Rose Marasco

Mark Rockwood has had an interesting journey photographically and we’re celebrating his “history” next June (2011) with a retrospective that will include some of the Seeing Portland images. Here’s my favorite in the Seeing Portland show:

Alley Laundry © Mark Rockwood.

Seeing Portland: 1970 to 1984 is open at Zero Station until May 1. You can see it on Tues – Friday 10-5 and Saturdays 10-2 (www.zerostation.com) Online at the Portland Press Herald you can read more and see many more images than were able to be installed at the exhibit  by clicking on this article by Bob Keyes. http://www.pressherald.com/life/audience/that-70s-show_2010-04-04.html

Visit the Farnsworth Art Museum in Rockland soon for several reasons, including some fun shopping in Rockland!!

I wanted one more chance to see that venerable Ansel Adams print of Eliot Porter’s and I did, but I was really headed downstairs to the small Arnold Newman exhibit.

A couple of people have already mentioned to me they expected this exhibit to be bigger, but the 29 images exhibited are a good overview of his styles and for me, it’s a good education. And I like its surprises, too.

For one, Newman photographed Cushing artist Alan Magee in 1990 at Maine Media Workshops. Cool.  But he photographed him through the plastic wall of the food hall tent. Even cooler. But what makes the portrait pretty darn amazing is that Newman’s own right HAND takes up a good chunk of the right side of the portrait! Seeing is believing…it’s a pretty unique shot for Arnold Newman!

Another reason Arnold Newman is truly one of the best portrait photographers in photography history is demonstrated by the Arno Minkkinen portrait he took in 2005 – not that long ago, remember. To say this artist did not get into ruts is an understatement and you can see why:

Arnold Newman, Arno Minkkinen, New york, NY, 2005 B/W Modern 11 7/8 x 9 15/16 inches. Arnold Newman/Getty Images

I think this actual image is from the Farnsworth exhibit catalog because obviously the one in the exhibit is not on a folded back page like this! But you’ve got to admit – this is a terrific image! The accompanying card on the wall says that Minkkinen’s hands are in the photograph and out of the photograph and that is true; however, there is another set of hands in the photograph and they should be referred to as well – they are a woman’s hands. I wonder who it is?

The Minkkinen image is surrounded by the classics – Newman’s famous portrait of the nutty-looking John Marin (1947) always makes me grin, I’m afraid. No choice but to let Marin dominate this photograph front and center! A beautiful portrait of John Sloan (1941), complete with paint-smeared smock and in front of his easel is why I am so in awe of Newman’s oeuvre.

I hope Kenneth Noland (1967) liked his Newman portrait: the artist is wedged in between two paintings in a very unique and brilliant composition that speaks volumes about the artist’s work.

Kenneth Noland (1967) © Arnold Newman/Getty Images

Mary Ellen Mark was photographed at Maine Media Workshops in the 80′s (didn’t write down the portrait date, sorry!). The obscuring slant of light and odd but hugely successful addition of a chair back in the center of the bottom of the portrait makes it totally unique as a portrait. You have to ask yourself – why did he do that? One of the exhibit cards quotes Newman as saying “Portrait photography is 90% moving furniture and 10% photography.” I guess so!

You’ll get prepped for the Louise Nevelson exhibit on the Museum’s main floor gallery by the haunting image of her in the Arnold Newman exhibit.

The famous Edward Hopper image, where Hopper is seated outside and down the hill a bit from the front of his studio is beyond brilliant. What the info. card is remiss in not saying is – that Jo Hopper is flitting about in the background next to the studio! Definitely part of the Newman plan for this portrait, and an important one, I would imagine.

I laughed out loud in disbelief when I saw the Edward Steichen (1955) portrait. I remember Steichen from the film made in the last years of his life at his home in CT, I think – a wiry curmudgeon with a long gray beard – but here he is looking exactly like a contented insurance salesman. Tell me I’m wrong when you see it!

And last, but not least, is the deceptively simple portrait of Milton Avery. I think Newman did a lot of furniture moving for this one, or maybe he just got it right the first time. In any event, it’s perfect.

You can see the Avery portrait and a whole page of Arnold Newman portraits go to his official website and click on Gallery and then PORTRAITS. Newman’s online presence is tightly controlled by Getty Images, which makes for a less exciting blog posting, but may the Farnsworth exhibit (which runs through August 8th) motivate you to spend time online seeing more.