Color Reykjavik
©2018. Kirk Tuck.
It's fun to make small portfolios from larger collections of photographs. Something entertaining for me to do as I spend an afternoon testing out gear for an upcoming series of photo shoots and mostly charging camera batteries for the same.
A photographic note for those who are smart, wise, tasteful and educated enough to appreciate Richard Avedon's last big project: "In the American West."
It was first presented at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art in Ft. Worth forty years ago. B. and I were there for the opening night as guests of Texas Monthly Magazine. The show was beyond anything I've ever seen in photography world and meeting Avedon was the thrill of a lifetime.
The same museum is presenting the show again this month, and until the first of October.
The show was and still is a tour de force. It separated truly aware modernists and photography lovers from art poseurs at the time of its first presentation and, apparently, still does so today.
If you are a fan of the most culturally significant photographer of the 20th century it's well worth flying in from ----- anywhere to see what all the fuss was about. It's one thing to see the work rendered small and flat in books but quite another to see how 8x10 inch negatives could be masterfully printed and presented in black and white at sizes up to eight feet by ten feet.
To see the work as it was meant to be seen and not be impressed and amazed is to not understand photography as an art...
There. I've said it.
We're driving up to see the show again next week. There's a Kimpton Hotel about three miles away that's pretty nice. A great place to spend a couple of days.
Don't bother to leave a comment that's negative about Richard Avedon. Two things will happen. First I will lose some measure of respect for your ability to appreciate really great photography. Second, unless the comment is so profound that the very words are also a work of art, I will give it a cursory read and then delete it. Ah, the power of the comment curator....
6 comments:
Yes, "In The American West" is brilliant, one of the most powerful photographic efforts of the 20th century.
I view photography as fiction and recently learned, to my surprise, that Avedon too understood that photography is fiction. No, I'm not comparing myself to him, but yeah, I won't lie, it was nice to find myself aligned photographically with Richard Avedon.
Flying has become unbearable and at 71 driving that distance is iffy so the show is a pass. But I'll take your word on the wonderfulness of the prints.
Very nice work with the G9 in Iceland. Well done.
On the 16th, at the completely wonderful Nelson-Atkins Museum in Kansas City, an exhibition of over 100 Evelyn Hofer prints opens. The selection is from the work she did for several 'travel' books: Florence, London, Spain, New York, Washington, Dublin, Paris. It does not include such gems as the 'Just Married' photos or the late still lifes. But still, there are very few opportunities to see prints by this overlooked artist. You can probably purchase the catalogue at the Blanton shop. The exhibition will close on February 11; I'm hoping to go in late October. I imagine this one is also right up your alley. Bit of a drive, however...
I saw the original show and am still amazed. I highly recommend it to anyone who can get there.
Thanks for the tip. Time to cash in some more miles.
Yeah, Evelyn Hofer is having a moment. Had never heard of her before I saw her profile in the Guardian photo pages, https://www.theguardian.com/artanddesign/2023/jun/11/evelyn-hofer-photographers-gallery-london-a-total-perfectionist. I bought the catalog from the Nelson-Atkins show, great stuff.
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