The Aftermath of Mount St. Helens by Frank Gohlke and Emmet Gowin at Cleveland Museum of Art
Total Page：16
File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb
American Vesuvius: The Aftermath of Mount St. Helens by Frank Gohlke and Emmet Gowin at Cleveland Museum of Art “Gowin and Gohlke were both innovative, influential practitioners of landscape photography when each decided, independently, to photograph the aftermath of the cataclysmic 1980 eruption of this volcano in Washington State,” says Barbara Tannenbaum, the organizing curator and the curator of photography at the Cleveland Museum of Art. “Photographing at Mount St. Helens transformed their approaches to landscape and forever changed the course of their art.” Because access to the mountain was initially limited to flyovers, both photographers took to the air during their initial visit to investigate the newborn land around the mountain. It was Gowin’s first experience with aerial photography, a practice that would soon become central to his landscape work. He made several trips there between 1980 and 1986. Gohlke returned to the region numerous times between 1981 and 1990 and his photographs testify to the volcano’s destructive force but also chronicle the land’s rebirth during its first decade. Tannenbaum says that “American Vesuvius is the first time that in-depth selections from Gowin and Gohlke’s Mount St. Helens images have been together in a single exhibition. Visitors to the exhibition will have a unique opportunity to compare and contrast the work of these eminent photographers while exploring nature’s destruction, then regeneration, of Mount St. Helens.” American Vesuvius is presented in conjunction with The Last Days of Pompeii: Decadence, Apocalypse, Resurrection and will be on view in Photography Galleries from January 13 to May 12, 2013. About the Artists Frank Gohlke (born 1942, Texas) has been a leading figure in landscape photography for over three decades. He earned a BA in English Literature from the University of Texas at Austin in 1964 and an MA in English Literature from Yale University in 1966. While at Yale, he studied photography with landscape photographer Paul Caponigro. Gohlke has received numerous awards including two Guggenheim Foundation Fellowship and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Gund Foundation. His works have been exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Cleveland Museum of Art and the Minneapolis Institute of Art among others. Emmet Gowin (born in 1941, Virginia) has been a prominent figure in photography since 1970s. He earned a BA in graphic design from Richmond Professional Institute (Virginia Commonwealth University) in 1965 and an MFA in photography at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1967. Gowin taught at Princeton University for 25 years and has influenced innumerable photographers through his own work and his academic career. He has received numerous awards including ones from the Guggenheim Foundation, National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Foundation and the State of Pennsylvania. His works have been exhibited widely at museums such as the Cleveland Museum of Art, Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Detroit Institute of Arts and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago. Blown down and standing dead Mount St. Helens, rim, trees at edge of impact zone, crater, and lava dome, 1982. 4 miles west of Mount St. Frank Gohlke. Gelatin silver Helens, 1982. Frank Gohlke. print; 37 7/8 x 43 5/8 in. © Gelatin silver print; 25 x 29 Frank Gohlke / courtesy: in. © Frank Gohlke / Howard Greenberg Gallery courtesy: Howard Greenberg Gallery Ash from Mount St. Helens at Elk Rock, Mount St. Helens, the confluence of the Cowlitz Washington, 1981. Emmet and Columbia Rivers, Gowin. Gelatin silver print; Washington, 1984. Emmet 11 x 14 in. © Emmet and Edith Gowin. Gelatin silver print; Gowin; courtesy Pace/MacGill 11 x 14 in. © Emmet and Edith Gallery, New York Gowin; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York “American Vesuvius: The Aftermath of Mount St. Helens by Frank Gohlke and Emmet Gowin” January 13 – May 12, 2013 Cleveland Museum of Art FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS AND ADVICE METRO GALLERY FRAME Standard Profile: 106 and Thin Profile: 114 Type: Standard Gallery Frame and Thin Gallery Frame Wood & Finish: maple wood frame with black opaque finish Purchasing Options: joined wood frame with splines Custom Wood Strainers: 1/2″ & 3/4″ wood frame strainers Framing Advice: fitting gallery frames Adam Davies “Boundaries and Transitions” Adam Davies “Boundaries and Transitions” opens October 2 at The Arts Club of Washington. Born in the United Kingdom, Adam Davies is a photographer whose work explores the edges of American urban and rural landscapes. Davies has recently attended residencies at Yaddo, the Fine Arts Work Center in Provincetown, and the Chinati Foundation. Currently a DC resident, Davies was a finalist for both the 2010 & 2011 Trawick Foundation Prize and was awarded a 2010-2011 DCArts Artist Fellowship. Davies has held teaching positions at Carnegie Mellon University, Robert Morris University, and Harvard University. He is currently a lecturer at the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. ARTIST STATEMENT My work bridges traditional and contemporary methods of photography. I use an 8 by 10 inch large format view-camera similar to those used by nineteenth-century landscape photographers. The color negatives are digitally scanned and printed on archival inkjet paper. I photograph sites at the periphery. Through placement of the camera, selection of light, and control of the depth of field within the picture, I try to create a dreamlike or fantastical sense of place, one shaped not only by traditions of landscape photography but also by ruin and capricci painters such as Giovanni Battista Piranesi and Hubert Robert. My pictures are not digitally manipulated. It is important that the key elements are found rather than invented. “Boundaries and Transitions” October 2 – October 28, 2012 The Arts Club of Washington Washington, DC Adam Davies Artist’s Reception October 11, 2012 6:30 – 9:00 pm FRAMING SPECIFICATIONS AND ADVICE “The frames arrived as planned on last Friday, were excellently packed and look fantastic as usual!” This is exactly what we like to hear from our customers. GALLERY FRAMES Standard Profile: 106 and Thin Profile: 114 Type: Standard Gallery Frame and Thin Gallery Frame Wood & Finish: maple wood frame with white opaque finish Purchasing Options: joined wood frame Framing Advice: fitting gallery frames COLLATERAL DAMAGE: The Human Face of War Since its inception photography has played an important role in documenting the effects of war. This exhibit features four very brave photographers who show us some of the unintended consequences of war. COLLATERAL DAMAGE: The Human Face of War opens at the Stephen Daiter Gallery Friday September 7th. The exhibit will be on view thru December 1, 2012. A reception for the artists will be held at the gallery on Sunday September 23 from 10 am to 1 pm. the reception is on the one year anniversary weekend of the repeal of “Don’t Ask/Don’t Tell.” Some proceeds from the sales of prints in the exhibition will benefit post-traumatic stress support groups such as Wounded Warriors. In the case of sales of prints from the Gays in the Military series, funds will be sent to the Service members Legal Defense Network, an organization that advocates for LGBT personnel. The following tells more about the photographers featured in the exhibit. Samantha Appleton examines the maleness of the atmosphere of war. She photographed men and boys, soldiers and civilians, as they move through the fog of war. Samantha Appleton is a photographer concentrating on historic trends. She began her career as a writer and became a photographer after assisting James Nachtwey. Her work strives to show that quiet, subtle moments make up the complicated components of large news stories. The bulk of her career has covered many of the most tumultuous, man-made events of the past decade. Primary stories have included conflict in Iraq, Afghanistan and Lebanon, social issues in Africa, and immigration in the US. She has won numerous awards including Pictures of the Year, World Press Master Class, American Photography and Camera Arts. She was most recently an Official White House Photographer for the Obama administration. In addition to her photography, she is currently writing a non-fiction book project on Iraq. Vincent Cianni shares works from his ongoing project, “Gays in the Military: How America Thanked Me”. This oral history and photographic project documents gay and lesbian service members and veterans from World War II to the present and is based on their experiences in the military and the effects that the ban on homosexuality had on their careers and lives. Cianni is an award-winning documentary photographer and educator whose work explores community and memory, the human condition, and the use of image, word and text. His photo essay, We Skate Hardcore, (published by NYU Press and the Center for Documentary Studies 2004) was awarded the American Association of University Presses’ Best Book Design. His photographs have been shown in numerous exhibitions nationally and internationally and a major survey of his work was exhibited at the Museum of the City of New York in 2006. With some eighty portraits and profiles already recorded the body of work presents a powerful indictment of entrenched military policies and protocols over the last half century. Ashley Gilbertson goes to the heart of the matter with a quiet homage to the soldiers who will never come home in his “Bedrooms of the Fallen”. This haunting project, begun in 2007, speaks volumes in its silent observations of the upended symbols of safety, privacy and comfort – bedrooms furnished as if the young people had just stepped away, and tended to like precious grave sites by bereaved parents. “Bedrooms of the Fallen” debuted in the New York Times Magazine and went on to win the National Magazine Award for Documentary Photography.