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Photography and Galleries

Photography and Galleries

In 1967, my wife Merle and I attended a retrospective exhibition of the works of photographer Dorothea Lange. The touring exhibition, created by the Museum of Modern Art, featured 75 of the 87 prints which comprised the original MOMA exhibition. It was presented at what was then the University of Alberta Art Gallery and Museum, located at 9021-112 Street in Edmonton, Alberta. 

This was the first major exhibition of photography that I had ever seen, and it will likely be one of the most memorable of any art exhibition I will ever see. 

Lange's photographs (including the iconic Migrant Mother, below) brought the depression and the 'dirty thirties' in the Great Plains and other parts of the USA to life. Since the dirty thirties also had a profound effect on the land and the people of the Canadian prairies, Lange’s images reflected my life as well the lives of millions of other people of The Great Plains. I cannot imagine that anyone looking at these photographs would not be affected by them. 

 

Lange’s exhibition showed me what documentary photography was and could be. I realized, after seeing Lange’s work, that the photographs I had made in Golden Prairie, Saskatchewan, in 1955, were part of the documentary tradition. Much of my later work can also be described as documentary. 

 In his review of the Lange exhibition, Virgil Hammock, the Edmonton Journal’s art critic, said that the attendance at the exhibition would not likely be as high as it should be, since most people in Edmonton at that time did not think that photography was art. He felt that this would be unfortunate, since this exhibition was one of the most important bodies of work ever shown at the University Art Gallery.

Times have changed. In 1974, The Edmonton Art Gallery (now the Art Gallery of Alberta) created their first exhibition of photography entitled Photography Alberta ’74. Twelve photographers were represented by 58 prints. I was pleased to be one of those photographers. Exhibitions of photographs in major public galleries in Europe, North America and other parts of the world are now as common as those of other types of visual art. Photography has come of age – or perhaps we have. 

Major museums no longer list the photographs in their collections on the basis of content, but rather will identify them, if possible, by the names of the artists who made them. Recently, in a New York Times article art critic Holland Cotter stated ‘But, of course, art itself has changed. It is no longer about things, hasn’t been for decades. Since the great surge of dematerialization introduced by conceptualism in the 1960s, art has been about, among other things, ideas, actions, sounds, performance, networks, communication.' 

Exhibitions provide opportunities for viewing work, often in the context of other forms of art, discussions, reflections, and ideas. While we can learn about visual art online, seeing paintings, photographs and other forms of art in public and private galleries and museums can provide an intimacy and a learning experience that is unique.

Found Photographs

The term found photography refers to the recovery of lost, unclaimed or discarded images. One might find such photographs in second-hand stores, garage sales, on the street or in boxes of memorabilia that Uncle Harold left in the attic many years ago. 

Friends have told me that they have discarded many of the photographs left to them by family members: ‘We didn’t know who the people in the photographs were or where the photographs were made so we chucked them.’ We lose many valuable historical resources and some amazing images this way.  

James Borcoman, photographer and former Curator of Photographs at the National Gallery of Canada, said ‘The photograph can confront us with both the universal and the particular at the same instant in time. The strange tension that results between these two polarities is the force that can make the photograph so moving or poignant or disturbing.'

While a photograph hanging on a gallery wall may be expected to fit Borcoman’s description more than a photograph that is discovered in a closet or thrift shop, both images may, indeed, be moving, poignant or disturbing.

This postcard photograph comes from a collection of my wife’s family’s papers. While there is no legible postmark the stamp on the card is a one cent Canadian with the image of King George VI, issued in 1942. The caption at the bottom of the image says that it is a lake view from a hotel on Lake Menaki, Ontario. The Lodge was built by the Canadian National Railway in 1914, and was destroyed by fire in 2003.

This is a fine image that reflects a time when people came to stay at Menaki and similar hotels across Canada for weeks at a time. Perhaps some of you may have visited the hotel or the current site. If so, I would be delighted to hear from you.

Collectors of found photographs may collect images like this one – or images that relate to virtually any subject (see Other People’s Pictures).

Found photographs may be inexpensive or free, but they may tell us a lot about the world around us. They may also help us discover previously unknown photographers, such as Vivian Maier: A Photographer Found.  

Collecting Photographs

 Photography is a relatively new medium and art form. Photographs, old and new, are now being collected by galleries, museums and private collectors. 

The first permanent photograph of a view from nature was made by Nicéphore Niépce in 1826. However, the first commercially practical photographic process - the daguerreotype – was announced by Louis Daguerre and French scientist Francois Arago in August, 1839. Other photographic processes followed. 

The French painter Paul Delaroche proclaimed ‘From today, painting is dead’ in 1839 when the daguerreotype was announced. It was the first of many such proclamations about developments in photography and other forms of  visual art, the latest being that film photography will soon vanish entirely.

Art is more than painting, photography or any other single medium. Recently, in a New York Times article entitled Review: The Broad is an Old-Fashioned Museum for a New Gilded Age, art critic Holland Cotter stated ‘But, of course, art itself has changed. It is no longer about things, hasn’t been for decades. Since the great surge of dematerialization introduced by conceptualism in the 1960s, art has been about, among other things, ideas, actions, sounds, performance, networks, communication.' 

While we can view and create art online we continue to enjoy and learn from exhibitions at galleries and museums. Prior to the early 1970s such institutions seldom showed or collected photographs. However, exhibitions of photographs in major public galleries in Europe, North America and other parts of the world are now as common as those of other types of visual art. Exhibitions provide opportunities for viewing work, often in the context of other forms of art, discussions, reflections, and ideas. Photography has come of age – or perhaps we have.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Photographs by Jerome Martin (FORM II Exhibition, 2015). Painting by Robert Sinclair (Collection of Merle and Jerome Martin). 

 

Some galleries and museums in North America embraced photography earlier than others:

1924: The Museum of Fine Arts in Boston became the first American museum to add photography to its permanent collection. 

1937: The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) presents its first survey exhibition: Photography 1839-1937. 

1938: MOMA’s first one person exhibition: American Photographs by Walker Evans. 

1967: The National Gallery of Canada begins their Photography Collection. 

1969: The Lee Witkin Gallery, the first commercial gallery devoted exclusively to fine art photography, opens in New York City. 

1974: First photography exhibition at the Edmonton Art Gallery (now the Art Gallery of Alberta). 

Collecting photography allows us to invest a little or a lot in images. Photographs which are purchased from galleries or artists range in price from several hundred dollars to hundreds of thousand dollars. One can also collect family and found photographs, postcards, and other images, most of which are inexpensive. 

The increasing interest in photography and collecting photographs has resulted in a large number of  Photo Festivals throughout the world. While some of these have been held annually for many years, most photography festivals are relatively new. In 2008 I arrived in Dublin on July 30, the second last day of the second annual PhotoIreland festival. My wife and attended several exhibitions in the last two days of the festival and two others which continued into August. 

Attending festivals is an excellent way to see a variety of exhibitions in a short time and to meet fellow photographers and collectors. Local exhibitions in public and private galleries provide similar opportunities. If you travel extensively, you will find photo galleries in many cities throughout the world. Visit them, learn about the photographers they represent, and consider buying a photograph or a book.

If you are a photographer, a collector of photographs, or someone who wants to learn about photography, browse the following sites and use the links in them to go further. In subsequent blog entries, I’ll discuss books, blogs, and other resources which deal with photography and collecting photographs.

Online Sites on Photography and Collecting Photographs

History of Photography – PBS 

Photograph – 'photograph magazine is dedicated to photo-based art, offering thoughtful coverage of exhibitions, ideas, people, books and events.'

On Collecting Photography – The Association of American Photography Art Dealers

Collecting Fine Art Photography – A comprehensive list of photography galleries, museums and resources

Photo-Eye – A gallery, bookstore and publisher in Santa Fe.