Most were completed in the darkroom and studio before the ease of digital manipulation so prevalent today. These photographs are expressive of each individual artist’s point of view, often taking photographic techniques in new and experimental directions. These are images derived through artistic innovation, and in some cases traditional photography is only part of the picture-other technical strategies are also at play. Juxtaposed to the tree arrangement is the adjacent wall with very different photographic images, carefully spaced and arranged in a more conventional manner.
For example, compare the gnarled tree trunk in the Ansel Adams image to the simplicity of the single tree on a beach in the photograph by Elliott Erwitt. The tight arrangement here allows us to see the subject as a whole, while also inviting us to compare the artists’ individual visions. Yet within this one subject, the range of imagery is quite broad. The large number of such images among its extensive holdings is rather the result of the abiding interest of photographers in the subject, evidenced throughout the history of the medium.Īs a grouping, these photographs demonstrate what the medium has from its beginning done so well-captured the “fact” of a place or event or thing. Collecting photographs of trees was never an intentional strategy of the museum. As I looked through the many photographs, my instinct was to group together images of trees, a subject close to our immediate environment and related to my own work. Inventive and expressive in nature, they illuminate the intervention of artistic vision into the photographic process.Īs an artist I was struck by the breadth and size of UMMA’s remarkable collection-every theme that has interested artists over time is represented. The display on the perpendicular wall is a selection of photographic works pushed by the artists in a variety of creative directions.
Here, photographic technique presumes the truth of the image. On this wall is a set of relatively straightforward, yet incredibly diverse, representations of the same subject. They present the viewer with an opportunity to see two distinctly different approaches to the art of the photograph. The photographs presented here, in two contrasting displays, were selected from the UMMA’s vast holdings. Oak Tree, Snowstorm, Yosemite National Park, Californiaġ9 3/4 in x 15 1/2 in (50.17 cm x 39.37 cm) 32 3/16 in x 26 1/4 in (81.76 cm x 66.68 cm) 28 1/8 in x 22 1/8 in (71.44 cm x 56.2 cm)įlip Your Field – Photography from the Collection
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