I mentioned last week how I was going to go to the Philadephia Museum of Art to take in two photographic exhibits. The Eugène Atget exhibit: Looking at Atget and Mavericks of Color Photography from the Collection. Both exhibits were nicely done. I went on a Sunday, aka free day at the PMA.
I started off downstairs at the color photography exhibit. It's in that same hallway next to the coat check room where most of the photo stuff is shown. One long hallway where the executive offices are for the museum. I started off on the left wall.
William Eggleston was the first artist. He was a chronicler of the American South and his 1976 solo show at the Museum of Modern Art [NYC] established himself and color photography in the realm of the arts — so says the placard at the front of the hall.
One photo of his stuck out in particular for me. It is titled Morton, Mississipi 1969. It depicts a seventy or so year old man sitting on a bed. With a gun in his hand. It has a decidedly dark tone, darker than the other seven or so photos the PMA has in its holdings on display. He wears a dark maroon button down shirt, grey walls come to a corner in the background. He sits on a bed with covers with stripes running across it. A silver metal pocket watch chain is clipped to his first beltloop and end in his right hand pant pocket. I think I saw a piss pot jutting out from under his bed as well. It may have been a nursing home of sorts. His face is wrinkled. Cocked to his right and up, but his eyes are still fixed on the lens.
The next artist on the wall was Eliot Porter. He was a scientific photographer turned nature photographer. He became one of the first masters of color nature photography. While Ansel Adams ruled black and white [and basically every techinical aspect involved in the art of photography] Porter was the first established force with color. He was particularly adept at finding and photographing birds.
Small Stream in Cinders, Skeljafell is a small waterfall scene. The water cascades down large blocks of stone with yellow skinny leaves/plants lining the water on both sides. Loose rocks can be seen in good detail further from the water passed the yellow foliage. The water is white with the use of a slow shutter for most parts, but at times, still translucent revealing more rock underneath.
Parula Warbler, Great Spruce Head Island, Maine shows a light blue bird just taking flight from a tangle of stringy growth. The bird's wings are several shades darker than the rest of its body; the wings are just about outstretched catching air as the bird is horizontal, perpendicular to the tree. It's claws are just about to let go of the growth on the tree. The bird's eye is fixed on the lens. All of Porter's photos of birds are with wings outstretched and several times with a little hint of movement with a slightly too slow shutter, a nice warming blur.
Joel Meyerowitz had several large photos on display at the base of the right wall. Danbury Fair, Connecticut is a huge 20"x30" print. An older man handles a mass of dough on top of a counter. There are neon circle lights above his head: orange, blue, green. He has a large birthmark on the left side of his forhead, but my eye was drawn to the mass of dough he was kneading/molding. There is a full-picture-width dimpled glass partition behind the man. You can see another man on the left side of the frame, standing in a doorway, it's bright on the other side of the glass with light pouring in around the man. His arm is stretched out, leaning against the frame.
The Atget exhibit was a very good comprehensive look at his work. I'm familiar with it, but not intimately. It served well as an introduction, conversation and in-depth look at this godfather of photography's technique. He preferred an albumen printing technique which revealed an incredible tonal range his successors could not reproduce using the same 8"x10" glass negative plates. The technique was dated at the time, but he liked it still.
Interior of M. C, Decorator, Rue Du Montparnasse (745 Interiors) is a scene set in a small sitting room with a large wooden armoire to the left. The armoire looms within the image as a very dark focal point. There are three chairs around a round table; one of them is a rolly/swivel chair. On top of the small table is what looks like a silver tea set or something similar. Can't really tell as the image is a little washed out in white, but it glows and draws the eye to it. I want to dismiss the washed out part, but I just kept on looking closer to see what was hidden in the white cloud.
There was a little display in the left room with one of his original glass plate negatives. Above it was a print from the plate and a card telling what was going on. He used daylight to expose his prints! Stuck the plates directly onto the photosensitive egg-white albumen paper and long exposure lead to the images being a little fuzzy and sorta blown out. The glass plate was considerably sharper than the print. I didn't see this little display until I was halfway through the exhibit and I had a bit of an "A-cha!" moment right there.
As I was leaving, I ran into Chris Bowers from MyDD.com. A hard guy to miss, he's pretty tall. So I have proof that not only does he, in fact, leave the computer and house from crunching numbers and processing large amounts of data, he does so in non-political/activist ways as well! We chatted for a bit, but I had to get home to see the GMen play and I didn't want to take up any more of his Sunday at the museum.
I highly recommend these two exhibits. They're both great sets of photography. They complement and contrast very well. The pasty albumen prints from pre-1900 to the chromatic full color glossy prints from the mid-1970s. I was there from about 2p - 4.30p, it was fairly empty. It was also a rediculously gorgeous day outside so I'm sure people were out frolicking. But I was determined to see the exhibits. Both shows are on view through Sunday the 27th.
