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Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Sydney Harbour Crepuscule1937Gelatin silver print32.5 x 47cmNoun. crépuscule m (plural crépuscules) twilight, dusk (the time of the day when the sun sets)Iv e been saving up these images for some time. This, the first of a two-part posting, features many images that are rare online, especially in a large size.Dupain was a master of the use of light and form (Tea Towel Trio, 1934), an early proponent of Modernist photography in Australia (Silos at Pyrmont; Silos through windscreen, both 1935), an expert in night photography (Mosman Bay at dusk, 1937) and the use of chiaroscuro (Passengers Disembarking from Ferry, 1950s; Newsstand, Nd). He was an innovator in surrealist photography (Night with her train of stars and her gift of sleep, 1936-37), photomontage (Nude Figure with Shell Transposed, 1936), and advertising photography. His nude studies evidence an experimentation towards the representation of the human body (Jean with Wire Mesh, 1938; Nude Figure behind Wire Mesh, 1930s), his portraits possess a sensitivity and feeling towards subject matter (Portrait of Boy in Sunlight, 1936), while his portrayal of Australian culture   the body as architecture (Bondi, 1939); the myth of the surf lifesaver (Life Guards with Flag and Reel March, Nd); and the bustling metropolis (Rush Hour, Kings Cross, 1938) address the burgeoning self confidence of the Australian nation in the 1930s.Seemingly, there was nothing that Dupain could not turn his hand too, that he could not photograph.What strikes me most when looking at his photographs is the precision of his visual inquiry. His focus, his previsualisation, in knowing exactly what he wanted to say in that image – even while shifting genres and points of view. Like the subtle camera positioning of Atget where the angles are not what you would expect, Dupain rarely puts his camera where a mere mortal would stand to take a photograph. He looks, down (Manly, 1940s), up (crouching on his haunches to make the Life Guards and the Bondi couple seem monumental) and across – framing his compositions with diagonals, arches, and waves of people, almost like musical annotation. Everything looks simple and eloquent, elegant, but beneath the surface these are sophisticated images.Far from being nostalgic, I look at Dupain s body of work, and then at an individual photograph like Buses, Eddy Avenue (Nd) – and marvel at Dupain s contemporary rendition (rending?) of time and space. Placing his camera as far to the right as he dared, Dupain captures the diagonal line of the parked buses in sunlight framed by the dark arch of the tunnel, the tram passing from left to right, the perfectly positioned clocktower and willowy flag giving a sense of movement and then that man, that man, standing stock still at right with his shadow falling in front of him. IF he was not there, the whole focus of the image, the punctum, would be gone. It would just be a serviceable image. But he IS there and Dupain recognised that!Similarly, in one of my favourite photographs by Dupain, At Newport (1952) Dupain s viewpoint turns the top of the wall into a taught line across the picture and his five bathers are strung out along it and held in tension like forms on a wire. As one prepares to dive, his counterweight, the sinewy young man, descends on the dry side. At the picture s edges, the girls in bathing caps counterbalance the boy with hunched shoulders. Birds on a wire, notes on a musical stave. Can you imagine being Dupain standing there and recognising that composition and the distorted shadow, in that very instance of its emergence, its flowering, for that ever so brief second in the existence of the cosmos .Simply put, Max Dupain is the greatest Australian male photographer that has ever lived.Dr Marcus Bunyan.All images are used under fair use conditions for the purpose of educational research. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Mosman Bay at dusk1937Gelatin silver print28 x 37.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Night with her train of stars and her gift of sleep1936-37Gelatin silver print30 x 36cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Rhythmic Form)1935Gelatin silver print22.5 x 30.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Nude Figure with Trombone Shadow)1930sGelatin silver print25 x 17.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Nude Figure with Shell Transposed)1936Gelatin silver print50 x 35.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Two forms1939Gelatin silver print50.5 x 38.5cmThis photograph relates conceptually to Dupain s experiments with photographs of nudes. According to the vitalist philosophies of the time, the spiralling rounded shell being shaped by nature is feminine, while the hard metallic tool is man-made and represents the masculine principle. Photographed on a plain surface and lit with raking light, the sense of space is ambiguous. Dupain retained an interest in still-lifes throughout his career, returning to them particularly towards the end of his life. In the 1930s his most well-known still-life was Shattered intimacy 1936 (AGNSW collection) where an image of broken glass and a broken classical statue has been solarised, producing a powerful narrative. Two forms is a more contemplative image as the shell and the head of a hammer lie side by side and are of similar scale. Interestingly, the two forms are distant from each other, rather than close together, and their scale gives them equality. It is not known whether Dupain necessarily subscribed to the contemporaneous anxiety about the new woman , but certainly one can read this image as an examination of difference.© Art Gallery of New South Wales Photography Collection Handbook, 2007Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Tea Towel Trio1934Gelatin silver print29.5 x 22cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Still Life1935Gelatin silver print29.5 x 21.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)BlanketsNdGelatin silver print31 x 24cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Male Nude with Discus)NdGelatin silver print39 x 32cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Dart1935Gelatin silver print50 x 37.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Dart1935Gelatin silver printMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Sleeping Boy1941Gelatin silver printMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Portrait of Boy in Sunlight1936Gelatin silver print29 x 26cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Jean with Wire Mesh1938Gelatin silver print49.5 x 39.5cmIn 1937, [Jean] Bailey posed for Jean with wire mesh, which some experts hail as the single most powerful image ever taken by Max Dupain, generally regarded as Australia s greatest lensman.It s more subtle than his most famous image, Sunbaker, also shot in 1937. It s less frozen in time than his striking scenes of wartime Australians serving in New Guinea. It s more universal than his evocative tableaux of shearers, cattle drovers, miners and six o clock swillers . And it s less contrived than the commissioned portraits he took of wealthier women for the equivalent of today s social pages.Of all the many women who posed for his camera, Bailey was regarded as Dupain s muse. Even by her own admission, she was not the most beautiful woman in 1930s Sydney.In some pictures, by other photographers, she looks quite plain. But Dupain saw something special in her, though even Bailey does not know what it was. It s not enormously erotic, says [Alan] Davies. But it is incredibly sensual, masterful in its use of light and shade. To photograph someone with her forehead in full sunlight and the rest of her figure cloaked in shadow is an extraordinary technical achievement. Most photographers would regard it as professional suicide. They wouldn t attempt it. The image, he says, is an astonishing masterpiece of chiaroscuro . Unlike so many of Dupain s images, this – and another outstanding work in the exhibition of an unknown model called Nude with pole – are timeless, betraying none of the nostalgia for which Dupain is so often noted.White, who under Dupain s tutelage became an accomplished photographer herself, says simply, I think Jean with wire mesh is his most beautiful image. It leaves Sunbaker for dead. Anonymous. Portrait of a lady, on The Sydney Morning Herald website, July 12, 2003 [Online] Cited 24/10/2020Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Nude Figure behind Wire Mesh)1930sGelatin silver print50.5 x 40 cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Hands of a Dancer1935Gelatin silver print29 x 27.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Artist and Model1938Gelatin silver print35.5 x 30.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Super-Imposed Woman and Night Cityscape)1937Gelatin silver print46 x 35cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Fire Stairs at Bond Street Studio (Solarised)1935Gelatin silver print30 x 21.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Fire Stairs at Bond Street Studio1930sGelatin silver print24.5 x 9cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Olive Cotton in Wheat Fields)NdGelatin silver print30 x 30cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Fire Stairs at Bond Street)1934Gelatin silver print26 x 21cmMax Dupain is Australia s most celebrated modernist photographer. Born in the Sydney, Dupain practiced photography as a teenager, receiving his first camera in 1924. In 1929 he joined the New South Wales Photographic Society, and in 1930 was employed in the studio of prominent Pictorialist Cecil Bostock, where he received solid training in all aspects of photography. He established his own studio in Sydney in 1934, servicing commercial clients and producing still lifes, figure photography and portraits. In his personal work, he explored the surrealist aesthetic of Man Ray, experimenting with formal abstraction and montage. With the outbreak of World War II, Dupain worked with the Camouflage Unit in 1941, travelling to New Guinea and the Admiralty Islands. His photography of the 1960s and 70s was shaped by architectural interests and he fostered working relationships with several prominent architects, most notably Harry Seidler.Text from the Art Gallery of New South Wales website [Online] Cited 24/10/2020Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Silos through windscreen1935Gelatin silver print40 x 43cmWhile cars and machinery were rarely Max Dupain s personal choice of forms to photograph, his Silos through windscreen 1935 embraces the new age from a new perspective. It is an uncharacteristically complex composition. The view of the silos from the front seat shows off the car s smart dashboard; at the same time his camera records a fragment of a brick factory reflected in the rear vision mirror.Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Silos at Pyrmont1935Gelatin silver print49 x 37cmPyrmont silos is one of a number of photographs that Dupain took of these constructions in the 1930s. In all cases Dupain examined the silos from a modernist perspective, emphasising their monumentality from low viewpoints under a bright cloudless sky. Additionally, his use of strong shadows to emphasise the forms of the silos and the lack of human figures celebrates the built structure as well as providing no sense of scale. Another photograph by Dupain in the AGNSW collection was taken through a car windscreen so that the machinery of transport merges explicitly with industrialisation into a complex hard-edge image of views and mirror reflections. There were no skyscrapers in Sydney until the late 1930s so the silos, Walter Burley Griffin s incinerators and the Sydney Harbour Bridge were the major points of reference for those interested in depicting modern expressions of engineering and industrial power.Dupain was the first Australian photographer to embrace modernism. One of his photographs of the silos was roundly criticised when shown to the New South Wales Photographic Society but Dupain forged on regardless with his reading, thinking and experimentation. Some Australian painting and writing had embraced modernist principles in the 1920s, but as late as 1938 Dupain was writing to the Sydney Morning Herald: Great art has always been contemporary in spirit. Today we feel the surge of aesthetic exploration along abstract lines, the social economic order impinging itself on art, the repudiation of the truth to nature criterion We sadly need the creative courage of Man Ray, the original thought of Moholy-Nagy, and the dynamic realism of Edouard [sic] Steichen. 11. Dupain, M. 1938, Letter to the editor , Sydney Morning Herald, 30 March© Art Gallery of New South Wales Photography Collection Handbook, 2007Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Bondi1939Gelatin silver print37 x 37.5cmDupain was one of the first Australian photographers to embrace Modernism. The simplicity of form and unusually low vantage point of this picture reflect the influence of German photography that he saw in the journal Das Deutsche Lichtbild. At first Dupain preferred another version of the image; when it was published in 1948, the photograph shows the woman standing with her arms folded. Here, she leans toward the man, their bodies slightly overlapping. Standing parallel to the picture plane, their bodies and those of the young men at their sides form a pyramid – one of Dupain s preferred forms at this time.Text © National Gallery of Australia, CanberraMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)At Newport1952Gelatin silver print25 x 29cmThere is a strong sense of masculinity found in many of Dupain s beach works. In At Newport this is emphasised by the strong, angular lines of the figures, an image that seems to capture the essence of male youth at the beach. In this image, three male swimmers are positioned in the foreground of a beachside pool setting. The long shadows of the late summer sun place further emphasis on the angularity and thus the masculinity that is a feature of this image.Text from the Annette Larkin Fine Art websiteMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)At Newport1952Gelatin silver print45.0 x 40.0cmNational Gallery of AustraliaPurchased 1976Dupain took At Newport in 1952 at the Newport Baths, as it was then known, a sea-water pool next to the Pacific Ocean about 20 miles north of Sydney. It s an ambiguous photograph in more ways than one because the angle of the shot makes it seem as if the tremendous weight of the sea is being held back by nothing stronger than a low wall, with the water rising almost to the brim. Dupain s viewpoint turns the top of the wall into a taught line across the picture and his five bathers are strung out along it and held in tension like forms on a wire. As one prepares to dive, his counterweight, the sinewy young man, descends on the dry side. At the picture s edges, the girls in bathing caps counterbalance the boy with hunched shoulders. The distant pillars along the side of the pool duplicate these intervals. There appears to be some indecision, though, about the crop Dupain intended on the right. A print in his archive shows space between the right-hand girl and the edge, which is better, while a print in a national collection omits her entirely. Losing her disembodied head and intense concentration on the diver weakens the photograph. (There is also a second picture of bathers from the same group (below))At Newport can be straightforwardly construed as another celebration by Dupain the dedicated modernist of the vitalising power of sunlight and the exuberant Australianness of the beach, but there is an alternative way of reading it. An essay in Dupain s Sydney (1999) notes that the photographer didn t like people very much, valued solitude, and would rather be doing something than have to talk. (He was remarkably industrious, leaving an archive of more than a million pictures.) This group of bathers is together but disconnected. Two faces are hidden and unknowable, looking down at the water, and the others are half-concealed in shadow, lost in their own thoughts. Then there is the ungainly shape cast by the young man s long legs, which serves as a foil to the dark tones of the rising land. The shadow introduces an element of discord and adds to the mood of subtle disquiet.Rick Poynor. Exposure: Newport Baths by Max Dupain, on the Design Observer website 23/06/2015 [Online] Cited 24/10/2020Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Newport Baths I1952Gelatin silver print23.5 x 25.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Bondi Couple1950sGelatin silver print20.5 x 20.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Manly1940sGelatin silver print47 x 37.5cmFrom 1938, and throughout the late 1940s after his return from the war, Dupain took many photographs of Manly beach from the high vantage point offered by its iconic shark tower. These landscapes often found striking diagonal obliques in the convergence of incoming surf, the activities of lifesavers, the lines of beachgoers, and the surrounding modernist architecture, including promenades. These photographs tell us as much about Dupain s leisure time as they do his artistic interests: the beach was how I used to spend my weekends , Dupain later wrote. More than its convenience, Manly offered a very local experience of modernity. Dupain strongly believed in and advocated for a contemporary photography, that it was important to consciously be part of the age into which one was born.Text © National Gallery of Australia, CanberraMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Life Guards with Flag and Reel March)NdGelatin silver print26 x 26.5 cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Life Savers at Attention in a Row)1940sGelatin silver print25.5 x 30 cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Lifesavers1940sGelatin silver print36.5 x 47.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Passengers Disembarking from Ferry)1950sGelatin silver print30.5 x 30.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Male Commuters departing Ferry)NdGelatin silver print27 x 26cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Newsstand)NdGelatin silver print36 x 30.5cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Meat Queue, Sydney1946Gelatin silver print40.5 x 50.5cmMeat queue, Sydney was one in a series of pictures Sydney photographer Max Dupain undertook for the Department of Information. When interviewed by curator Helen Ennis in 1991 Dupain said: We were doing a story on queues after the war. They were all over the place – queues for buses, vegetables, fruit. I just happened to come across this butcher shop in Pitt Street, I think it was. Here they were all lined up, and I went around it, took a number of pictures, ultimately ending up with this sort of architectural approach with four of five females all dressed in black with black hats, not looking too happy about the world. Suddenly one of them breaks the queue when I’m focused up all ready to go, pure luck. 1The solidity of the linear figures taken from mid distance beneath a meat coupon scale which will weigh a proportion of meat with the allowable coupons democratises the women. The picture is given a sudden focus as the central figure decides to move from the queue and unwanted contact is made with the woman ahead. Described as both a documentary photograph, but not necessarily a social comment, the economic food-rationing of postwar Australia is shown in this clear modernist image of black-and-white shapes in shallow space. Form rather than content defines this image. The central figure in a lighter coloured coat is balanced on either side by the darker coats as the black hats, which make a wave along the horizontal, parallel the line of meat hooks.1. Ennis, H. 1991, Max Dupain: photographs, Australian National Gallery, Canberra p. 18.© Art Gallery of New South Wales Photography Collection Handbook, 2007Max Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Morning Commuters, The Kabu, Circular Quay1938Gelatin silver print32.5 x 30cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Tram Abstraction1930Gelatin silver print23.5 x 20cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)(Buses, Eddy Avenue)NdGelatin silver print17.5 x 17cmMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Rush Hour, Kings Cross1938Gelatin silver printMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Rush Hour, Kings Cross1938Gelatin silver printMax Dupain (Australian, 1911-1992)Rush Hour, Kings Cross1938Gelatin silver print40.5 x 42cmLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Zebras. Prekinetic study (Preliminary study for the kinetic theory. Graphic Period, 1929-1939) (installation view)1939Gouache, pencil, colour and white chalk on paperPhoto: Marcus BunyanWhile on my European art trip in 2019, I ventured by tram to the deepest suburbs of Budapest to visit the Vasarely Museum on a Sunday – one of only three days the museum is open. The journey was an experience in itself. The reward was that I got to see an artists work I have always admired (I have a Vasarely serigraph in my collection), set in one of the most beautiful art galleries I have ever seen in my life. What s not too like.Critically, I got to examine Vasarely s work up close and personal, on a large scale. I noted how gestural his work is, even as it is geometric – emerging from his Gesture Drawings. Ground Plans of 1946. There is a mesmerising flow to his compositions, even as they are supposedly set, fixed, in their mathematical complexity.Even as Josef Albers explored colour in the belief that colours have no inherent emotional associations, so Vasarely investigated the formula for a plastic alphabet , a universal visual language based on the structural interplay of form and colour, a programmed language with an infinite number of form and colour variations. Through serialisation and the processes of re-creation, multiplication and expansion, in pictures based on the mutual association between forms and colours, he claimed to perceive a grammar of visual language, with which a set of basic forms making up a composition could be arranged into a system similar to musical notation He regarded colour-forms as the cells or molecules out of which the universe was made. Don t believe all that is written on the can. While both artists want to euthanise the authenticity of the hand, the feeling of he eye, and the beauty of the object through an investigation of concept, form and replication, when in the presence of these paintings, once, twice, three times, one cannot deny the intimacy of their construction.Unlike flat reproductions of these paintings in books, their serial reproduction, in these installation photographs you can see the ripples in the surface of these paintings. Their meticulous, hand-crafted production. For example, look at the surface of paintings such as Lom-Lan 2 (1953, below); Marsan (1950 / 1955 / 1958, below); and Sonora (1973, below). From a distance their patterns are stable but optically disturbing. Up close, their surface dis/integrates into swirls and ripples at a molecular level. The musical annotation – colour, form, pattern, repetition – of these optical illusions is subsumed into an aura, an earthly divination of a transient planetary folklore .Dr Marcus Bunyan.All iPhone images © Dr Marcus Bunyan. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.Downstairs galleriesView of the Vasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanView of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at second left, Gesture Drawings. Ground Plans (1946); and at second right, Composition (1948)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Gesture Drawings. Ground Plans (installation view)1946Pencil on paperVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanThe Galerie Denise René opened in 1944. Its first exhibition was Les dessins et composition de Vasarely (Vasarely s drawings and graphic compositions). Surrealism influenced his works, and even caught the attention of André Breton. As Denise René recalled: André Breton was even convinced we had found a Surrealist painter; it was mostly the trompe l œils that made him think so, which abounded in Vasarely s graphic innovations. Breton invited me and Vasarely to visit him in rue Fontaine. Éluard and Breton both came to see the exhibition, though on different days because Éluard had broken with Breton and Surrealism. Vasarely had a painterly turn. Shortly he made experimentations in gesture painting. (Victor Vasarely, Jazz, 1942, inv. V. 195) Later, despite his artistic discoveries, he described his earliest period as Les Fausses Routes (Wrong Roads).Text from the Vasarely Museum website [Online] Cited 26/10/2020Victor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Hombre en movimiento – Estudio del movimiento (El hombre)Man in motion. Study of Motion (The Man)1943Tempera on plywood117 x 132cmVasarely Museum BudapestVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Composition (installation view)1948Oil on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanMagyar Grafika (Hungarian Graphics)Az Ujság Hirdetés (The Newspaper is Advertised) (installation view)Edition 121931Vasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanA journal for the development of graphic industries and related professions. Budapest, 1. 1920 13. 1932Installation views of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest with in the last photo at left, Versant (1952)Photos: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Versant (installation view)1952Acrylic on plywoodVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest with at right, Lom-Lan 2 (1953)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Lom-Lan 2 (installation view)1953Oil on fibreboardVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation views of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing the paintingPhotos: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Amir ( Rima ) (installation view)1953Acrylic on plywoodVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)MORA (Oeuvre profonde cinétique) (installation views)1954/1960 (?) vagy 1955/1964 (?)Deep kinetic object, silk screen on plexiglas, glass and steelVasarely Museum BudapestPhotos: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left, Orion noir (1970); and at right, Norma (1962-1979)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Orion noir1970Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Norma (installation view)1962-1979Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Chess Set1980Multiple, plexiglassVasarely Museum BudapestPhotos: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left, Marsan-2 (1964/1974); at centre, Gizeh (1955/1962); and at right, Marsan (1950/1955/1958)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Marsan-2 (installation views)1964/1974Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhotos: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Gizeh (installation view)1955/1962Oil on canvasDonation of Victor Vasarely, 1970Vasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Marsan (installation view)1950/1955/1958Oil on canvasDonation of Victor Vasarely, 1970Vasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Naissances (installation view)1954/1960From the album Hommage à Johann Sebastian Bach (Éd. Pierre belford, Paris, 1973. Éxemplaire XIV/XX), Supplement no. 3.Deep kinetic object, plexiglass, silk screenVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Zilia (installation view)1981Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Stridio-Z (installation view)1976-1977Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Tri-Axo (installation view)1972/1976Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanWilliam SeitzThe responsive eye (book cover)Museum of Modern Art, 1965Photo: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing Yllus (1978)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Yllus1978Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanUpstairs galleriesInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing V.P. 102 (1979)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)V.P. 102 (installation view)1979Acrylic on cardboard, mounted on plywoodVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left in the display cabinet, KROA-MC (1969); and at centre, Quivar (Ouivar) (1974)Photo: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left, Eroed-Pre (1978); and at right, Quivar (Ouivar) (1974)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Eroed-Pre (installation view)1978Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Quivar (Ouivar) (installation view)1974Collage, gouache on cardboard, mounted on plywoodVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at right, Stri-oet (1979)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Stri-oet (installation view)1979Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left centre, Stri-oet (1979); and in the display cabinet, KROA-MC (1969). Love the reflection of the colours on the wall behind!Photo: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing KROA-MC (1969)Photo: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left, Bull (1973/74); and at centre left, Orion noir (1963)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Bull (installation view)1973/1974Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Vega Mir (Oeuvre profonde cinétique) (installation view)1954/1960From the album Hommage à Johann Sebastian Bach (Éd. Pierre belford, Paris, 1973. Éxemplaire XIV/XX), Supplement no. 1.Multiple, silk screen on anodised aluminiumVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Vega Mir (Oeuvre profonde cinétique) (installation view detail)1954/1960From the album Hommage à Johann Sebastian Bach (Éd. Pierre belford, Paris, 1973. Éxemplaire XIV/XX), Supplement no. 1.Multiple, silk screen on anodised aluminiumVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus Bunyan. Self portrait with Vega Mir 2019Installation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left, Bi. Octans (1979)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Bi. Octans (installation view)1979Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at left, Kotzka (1973-1976); and at right, Trybox (1979)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Kotzka (installation view)1973-1976Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Trybox (installation view)1979Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at centre right, Vonal-Ket (1972/1977)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Vonal-Ket (installation views)1972/1977Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhotos: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the Vasarely Museum, Budapest showing at centre left, Sonora (1973)Photo: Marcus BunyanVictor Vasarely (Hungarian-French, 1906-1997)Sonora (installation view)1973Acrylic on canvasVasarely Museum BudapestPhoto: Marcus BunyanVasarely Museum1033, Budapest Szentlélek tér 6Phone: + 36 1 388 7551Opening hours:Friday 11am 4.00pmSaturday Sunday 11am 4.00pmVasarely Museum websiteLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topThomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)press++01.382015C-Print© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff is the true Renaissance man of contemporary photography. No greater compliment can be given.His career in photography, as evidenced through the numerous bodies of work seen in this posting, has been an inquiry into the conceptualisation, status, presence, presentation, and representation of photographs in different contexts and media, through different technologies. A meditation on, and mediation into, the origins and purposes of photography and the interventions human beings enact to affect their outcomes.His work explores the most diverse genres and historical varieties of photography . For example, in the series press he combines front and back of an image, disrupting the reading of the image with contemporary hieroglyphs. In Zeitungsfotos he investigates the power of press photos and their deconstruction through the dot structure of the image. In Tableaux chinois he examines the use of photographs in political propaganda and looks at the artistic stylisation of the image. In one of my favourite series, jpeg, Ruff focuses on the pixellation and deconstruction of the image in compressed JPEG format photographs where, at a distance, the whole is more than the sum of the parts. This reminds me of the technique I witnessed when visiting Monet s huge canvases of waterlilies at the Musée de l Orangerie in Paris – how when you got up close to the canvases, there were huge daubs and mounds of paint accreted on the surface of the paintings which made no sense at close range. It was only when you stepped back that it all made sense.In essence this is what grounds the work of Thomas Ruff: that he digs and unearths the hidden strands, the interweaving, that lies beneath the surface of photographies. He intervenes in the negative, the print, the newspaper photograph, the light, the camera and the physicality of the print. He turns these literally hidden connections into lateral images – side views of the familiar that touch the human and the machine from different points of view.To think of all these ideas, concepts, and then to develop them and bring them together in holistic bodies of work that the viewer remembers – and there is the rub, for so much contemporary photography is unremarkable, mortal – lifts Ruff s photographs beyond the realm of time and space. In their distortions, their sublime beauty, their critical thinking, they become i/mortal. They become the complexity that is us.Dr Marcus Bunyan.Many thankx to the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. To understand how a pictorial genre actually works, I have to produce a series; I want to uncover the secret behind image generation. .Thomas RuffThomas Ruff (b. 1958) is one of the internationally most important artists of his generation. Already as a student in the class of the photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art in the early 1980s, he chose a conceptual approach to photography, which continues to determine his handling of the most diverse pictorial genres and historical possibilities of photography to this day.Thomas Ruff’s contribution to contemporary photography thus consists in a special way in the development of a form of photography created without a camera: He uses images that have already been taken and that have already been distributed and optimised for specific purposes in other, largely non-artistic contexts. Ruff s image sources for these series range from photographic experiments of the nineteenth century to photographs taken by space probes. He examined the archive processes of large image agencies and the pictorial politics of the People s Republic of China. But also pornographic and catastrophic images from the Internet form starting points for his own series of works created over the past twenty years that have increasingly been developed on the computer.They originate from newspapers, magazines, books, archives, and collections or were simply accessible to everyone on the Internet. In each series, Ruff explores the technical conditions of photography in the confrontation with these different pictorial worlds. At the same time, he focuses on the afterlife of images in publications, archives, databases, and on the Internet.Short Biography Thomas RuffThomas Ruff was born in Zell am Harmersbach in 1958 and studied with Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art from 1977 to 1985. From 2000 to 2005, he was himself Professor of Photography there. He first received international attention in 1987 with his series of larger-than-life portraits of friends and acquaintances who, as in passport photographs, gazed apathetically into the camera. In 1995, he represented Germany at the 46th Venice Biennale, together with Katharina Fritsch and Martin Honert. His works are collected internationally and are represented in numerous institutional collections.Press release from the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenCamera-less PhotographyThomas Ruff (b. 1958) is one of the internationally most important artists of his generation. Already as a student of the photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art in the early 1980s, he chose a conceptual approach to photography. His work, which explores the most diverse genres and historical varieties of photography, represents one of the most versatile and surprising positions within contemporary art. The comprehensive exhibition at K20 focuses on series of pictures from two decades in which the artist hardly ever used a camera himself. Instead, he appropriated existing photographic material from a wide variety of sources for his often large-format pictures.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Zeitungsfoto 0141990C-Print16.8 x 42.4cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020The Power of Press PhotosWhere do we use photos? What happens when photos are printed? How do aesthetics and statements change?The artist explores these questions in various series, in which he draws on image material from other photographers, processes this, and thematises contexts. For his series Zeitungsfotos, the artist collected and processed newspaper photos to test the familiarity with the motifs and their reliability as carriers of information. In the series press++, he reveals the work traces of newspaper staff in conflict with the photos that were taken especially for use in the newspaper. In his new series, Tableaux chinois, he examines the use of photographs in political propaganda and reveals the artistic stylisation of the photos with reference to the feasibility and time-related aesthetics of the printed products.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Zeitungsfoto 0601990C-Print17.3 x 13.4cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020ZeitungsfotosThe works in the series Zeitungsfotos (Newspaper Photos) were created between 1990 and 1991 as colour prints framed with passe-partouts. They are based on a collection of images which the artist cut out of German-language daily and weekly newspapers between 1981 and 1991. The selected motifs from politics, business, sports, culture, science, technology, history, or contemporary events reflect in their entirety the collective pictorial world of a particular generation. The artist had the selected images reproduced without the explanatory captions and printed in double column width. In this way, he questions the informational value of the photographs and directs our attention to the rasterisation of newspaper print.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)press++21.112016C-Print, Edition 02/04260 x 185cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020press++Black-and-white press photographs from the 1930s to the 1980s, which were taken primarily from American newspaper and magazine archives, are the source material for the press++ series. Thomas Ruff has been working on this series since 2015, scanning the front and back sides of the archive images and combining the two sides so that the partially edited photograph of the front side is fused with all the texts, remarks, and traces of use on the back side. When printed in large format, the often disrespectful handling of this type of photography becomes visible.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf 2020 (installation view)WG Bildkunst 2020Photo: WDR / Thomas KösterThomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)press++ 60.102017C-Print225 x 185cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Going DigitalHow are pictures made today? How do photos printed on paper differ from photos viewed on the Internet? Where are photos stored?The investigation into the various pictorial genres leads to the archives and image stores of the past and present. The Internet offers seemingly inexhaustible sources of images by providing fast access to digitised, originally analog image material from older times and digitally created photographic material. As a researching artist, Thomas Ruff also finds here material for his studies, image production, and reflection.His large-format photos of the series nudes draw on motifs and forms of presentation of thumb nail galleries (compilations of small images as previews) with pornographic images as they can be found on the Internet. By making the coarse pixel structure of the Internet images of the turn of the millennium into a pictorial principle, he thematises the technical conditions of the photographic images in his works. With the series jpeg, he continued these investigations and connected his selection of media images with the question of a collective memory for images and contemporary history. In his latest series of Tableaux chinois, pixel structures create visual tension and irritation alongside the offset screens of the digitised printed products of Chinese propaganda of the Mao era – and suggest the question of the technical conditions of images at the time they were created.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)nudes pea101999C-Print, Edition 1/2AP102 x 129cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020nudesAn Internet research into the genre of nudes drew Thomas Ruff s attention to the field of pornography and the images that were freely available on the World Wide Web at the turn of the millennium. The motifs and the special formal features that characterised the state of the art at that time became the starting points for new works. The found pictures had a rough pixel structure, which had already aroused the artist s interest before. Thomas Ruff processed the found pictures in such a way that their pixel structure was just barely visible in print. By using motion blur and soft focus, by varying the colours and removing details, he gave the obscene pictures a painterly appearance and directed the eye to the pictorial structure and composition. The artist selected his source images according to compositional aspects. The choice of motifs shows a broad spectrum of sexual fantasies and practices.The Internet 20 years agoThomas Ruff began working on the series nudes in 1999. In the 1990s and early 2000s, the transmission rates of the World Wide Web were still relatively low. Although dial-up modems had been around since the 1970s, devices with a speed of 56 kBit/s did not come onto the market until 1998. Even dial-up via ISDN, which was available at much higher prices from 1989 onwards, only allowed 64 kBit/s. It was not until July 1999 that Deutsche Telekom switched on the first ADSL connections, enabling transmission rates of up to 768 kBit/s. Although two million households were already connected by the end of 2001, slow Internet remained the general rule, above all outside the metropolitan regions. Until well into the 2000s, website operators thus relied on the offering of highly compressed images.As a result, photographic images found wide and rapid distribution, but always initially in a highly compressed, reduced form. Thomas Ruff was one of the first to deal artistically with the question of the status of photography in the age of the Internet, with the series nudes from 1999 onwards and the series jpeg from 2004 onwards.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf 2020 (installation view)WG Bildkunst 2020Photo: WDR / Thomas KösterThomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)jpeg ny012004C-Print, Edition 1/1AP256 x 188 cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)jpeg msh012004C-Print© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Images distributed worldwide through the Internet, as well as scanned postcards and illustrations from photobooks, are the visual starting point of the jpeg series, on which Thomas Ruff has been working since 2004. In it, he focuses attention on a feature that determines all images compressed in JPEG format and becomes visible at high magnification. By intensifying the pixel structure and simultaneously enlarging the overall image, he creates a new image that resembles a geometric colour pattern when viewed closely but becomes a photographic image when viewed from a greater distance. Here, Ruff uses ideas from the painting of late Impressionism and combines these with the digital possibilities of the twenty-first century. By using the entire range of images published globally and simultaneously discussed in recent decades, he allows the series to become almost a visual lexicon of media imagery and a reflection of its characteristics determined by the medium.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Installation view K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenFrom series: jpegPhoto: Achim Kukulies© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Propaganda ImagesWhat are photos used for? Which reality do photos depict? How do photos affect reality?In addition to the motifs and the formal as well as technical possibilities of photography, Thomas Ruff examines the possible uses of photos. With his adaptations of images from Chinese propaganda material, he makes the ideological appropriation and manipulative character of the images his theme.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Installation view K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenFrom series: tableaux chinoisPhoto: Achim Kukulies© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)tableau chinois_032019C-Print, Edition 01/04240 x 185cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)tableau chinois_012019C-Print240 x 185cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Tableaux chinoisFor many years, Thomas Ruff has been preoccupied with the subject of propaganda imagery. For Tableaux chinois, the artist scanned images from books on Mao published in China, as well as from the magazine‚ La Chine, published and distributed worldwide by the Chinese Communist Party. He stored them in such a way that the offset raster screen was preserved. He then duplicated the images and converted the offset raster of the duplicates into a large pixel structure. As a result of a long editing process on the computer, a composition is created which brings together the characteristics of the various time-related media and exposes the propaganda image as manipulated.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Installation view K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenFrom series: tableaux chinoisPhoto: Achim Kukulies© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)r.phg.07_II2013C-Print© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020On Par with the PioneersWhat is a negative? How have photographic techniques changed in the course of history? Does a digital image look different from an analog photo?The transition from analog to digital photography took place in the 1990s, at a time when Thomas Ruff was already successful on an international level. In addition to the characteristics of digitally processed and circulated photos, he examined the special features of the production and processing of analog photography. The exhibited photo series reveal Ruff s engagement with nearly 170 years of photographic history and technology.The series Negative pays tribute to the function and particular aesthetics of the negative, which recorded the image information in the light-sensitive coating of a transparent plate and had to be exposed again on prepared paper. The works in the series Tripe focus on the specific possibilities of working with the variant of paper negatives. Ruff reconstructs and explores the effect of pseudo-solarisation – as the great image magicians and experimenters of the 1920s and 1930s explored and used this – with analog and digital means in the series flower.s.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)r.phg.08_II2015C-Print185 x 281cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Installation view K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenFrom series: photogramsPhoto: Achim Kukulies© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf 2020 (installation view)WG Bildkunst 2020Photo: WDR / Thomas KösterFotogrammeFascinated by photograms of the 1920s, Thomas Ruff decided to explore the genre and develop a contemporary version of these camera-less photographs. Beyond the limitations of analog photograms, the artist has been developing his versions of photograms since 2012, using a virtual darkroom to simulate a direct exposure of objects on photosensitive paper.With this, he was able to place objects (lenses, rods, spirals, paper strips, spheres, and other objects) generated with the help of a 3D program on or over a digital paper, correct their position, and in some cases expose them to coloured light. He could thus control the projection of the objects on the background in virtual space and print the image calculated by the computer in the size he wanted. In this way, he succeeded in capturing the concepts and aesthetics of the pioneers of kameralosen Fotografie in the 1910s and 1920s, generating images with light and transporting them into the twenty-first century using a technique appropriate to his own time.Digital photograms with many different coloured light sources and transparent objects could not be produced with the equipment available to Thomas Ruff in 2014. The computing process required such high capacities that Ruff s computers would have needed over a year for each image. In 2014, he was given the opportunity to have photograms calculated by a mainframe computer at the Supercomputing Centre of the Forschungszentrum Jülich. This required roughly eighteen terabytes of data for each image.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf 2020 (installation view)WG Bildkunst 2020Photo: WDR / Thomas KösterThomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)neg◊lapresmidi_012016C-Print23.4 x 31.4cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020NegativeIn 2014, Thomas Ruff began to work more intensively on the visual appearance of the source material of analog photography, the negative . In order to make its photographic reality and pictorial quality visible, he transformed historical photographs into “digital negatives” In the process, not only the light-dark distribution in the image changed; the brownish hue of the photographs printed on albumin paper also became a cool, artificial blue tone.The aim of the processing was to highlight the photographic negative , which, in analog photography, was never the object of observation, but always a means to an end. In this series, it is treated as an original worth viewing, from which a photographic print is made, and which is in danger of disappearing completely due to digital photography.The series covers the entire spectrum of historical black-and-white photography and is divided into different subgroups. On display are the series neg◊lapresmidi and neg◊marey.L Après-midi d un fauneFor more than ten years, Stephane Mallarmé worked on his poem‚ L Après-midi d un faune (The Afternoon of a Faun), which was published in 1876. This complex Symbolist poem tells of the encounter of a faun with a group of nymphs. In the end, the nymphs disappear. What remains is their shadow in the form of writing: the poem itself.The work inspired the composer Claude Debussy to write his radical symphonic poem‚ Prélude à l Après-midi d un faune in 1894. Debussy did not want to illustrate the poem, but rather to evoke an enraptured mood that corresponds to the drowsiness of Mallarmé s faun. At the same time, he referred structurally to the 110-line poem: Debussy s‚ Prélude also has 110 bars.1912 saw the premiere of‚ L Après-midi d un faune, the first scandalous choreography by the ballet dancer Vaslav Nijinsky. The dancers moved to Debussy s music almost continuously in profile and along particular planes. The movements were consciously intended to be reminiscent of the linear concept of Greek vase painting.For the series neg◊lapresmidi, Thomas Ruff used photographs taken by Adolphe de Meyer during a performance of the ballet in 1912. In a sense, three turning points of the avant-garde culminate in Adolphe de Meyer s photographs: the Symbolist poetry of Mallarmé, on which the ballet was based, the music of Debussy, and the choreography of Nijinski. Ruff s inversions of Adolphe de Meyer s photographs enrapture and alienate this moment and at the same time allow it to shine with particular intensity.Capturing timeThe series neg◊marey focuses on photographs taken by the physician Étienne-Jules Marey in the 1870s. At the time, he tried to take pictures of moving people and animals in order to better understand their movements. Almost simultaneously, the British-American photographer Eadweard Muybridge was working on similar experiments. While Muybridge devised elaborate constructions with which he captured individual moments of movement with several cameras connected in series, Marey developed a process in which movements from a single camera with interrupted exposure could be brought onto a single plate. By placing reflective dots on the test subject or animal, the movements could be captured precisely and in the same proportion as the interrupted exposure. This approach was reminiscent of the graphic method previously invented by Marey, which allowed the first continuous recordings of the pulse and the assignment of individual sections of the pulse curve to the respective heart activities.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)neg◊marey_022016C-Print22.4 x 31.4cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Installation view K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenFrom series: flower.sPhoto: Achim Kukulies© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020 Actually from time to time I try to take a photograph of a flower or several flowers but it just looks boring, it doesn t work, so it seems that I cannot take photographs of flowers. ~ Thomas Ruffflower.sFlower photograms by Lou Landauer (1897-1991), which Thomas Ruff had acquired, as well as the work on the photograms, gave him the idea of working with another photographic technique that has been used since the mid-nineteenth century: pseudo-solarisation (also called the Sabattier effect). This is a technique discovered by chance, in which the negative / positive is subjected to a diffuse second exposure during exposure in the darkroom, resulting in a partial reversal of light and shadow areas in the photographic image. For his series flower.s, which he has been working on since 2018, Ruff first photographs flowers or leaves with a digital camera, which he had arranged on a light table. During the subsequent processing on the computer, he applies the Sabattier effect.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)flower.s_102019C-Print139 x 119cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)tripe_12 Seeringham. Munduppum inside gateway2018C-Print, Edition 02/06123.5 x 159.5cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020TripePaper negatives, which Captain Linnaeus Tripe (1822-1902) had produced on behalf of the British government in Burma and Madras between 1856 and 1862 and that are now in the archives of the Victoria Albert Museum in London, were the starting point for the series Tripe.Thomas Ruff was able to view the existing negatives and selected several of these for his own work. All of them showed clear signs of ageing or damage. Ruff had the negatives digitally reproduced and then converted them into a positive, inverting the brownish hue of the negative into cyan blue.He duplicated these positives and altered the coloration of the duplicate to the brown tone of the negative. He superimposed the two positive images as digital layers and removed parts of the layer of the brownish image, so that the coloration of the bluish image partially shines through. In a second step, he enlarged the images so that the texture of the paper, as well as all edits, damages, and changes become visible.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Installation view K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenFrom series: tripePhoto: Achim Kukulies© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)tripe_15 Madura. The Blackburn Testimonial2018C-Print123.5 x 159.5 cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)3D_m.a.r.s 162013C-Print255 x 185cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020A Different DimensionHow do scientists use photographs? Does the tradition of travel photography still exist? Who invents new pictorial landscapes?Photographs are used in many different areas. In space research, satellite photos are a basis for scientific knowledge about places that were previously inaccessible to humans. In the processing by the artist Thomas Ruff, these photographs become images of never-seen worlds and studies of the imagination, feasibility, and credibility of images.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Installation view K20, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenFrom series: ma.r.sPhoto: Achim Kukulies© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020ma.r.s.During his research on photographs from outer space, Thomas Ruff came across photographs of Mars. These were taken by a camera within a probe sent into outer space by NASA in August 2005 and has been sending detailed images of the surface of the planet Mars to Earth since March 2006. The images are intended to enable scientists to obtain more precise knowledge of the surface, atmosphere, and water distribution of Mars.For his series, created between 2010 and 2014, the artist processed these very naturalistic yet strange images in several steps; among other things, he transformed the black-and-white transmitted images, which were photographed vertically top-down, into an oblique view and then coloured them so that the surface of the distant planet appears accessible and almost familiar. The works of the subgroup 3D-ma.r.s. illustrated here are photographs of the surface of Mars which were produced using the so-called anaglyph process. When viewed with red-green glasses, a spatial, three-dimensional image is created in the brain.The raw material for Thomas Ruff s series ma.r.s. is derived from HiRISE (High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment), a high-performance camera on board the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter, a probe that has been transmitting images from the surface of Mars to Earth since 2006.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf 2020 (installation view)WG Bildkunst 2020Photo: WDR / Thomas KösterThomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Retusche 01-091995C-Print14.7 x 10cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Retouching and ColourHow do photos become colourful? Why did photographers in the nineteenth century retouch their photos?Since the early days of photography, monochrome and multicolour retouching has been used or images have been coloured. Thomas Ruff explores one possibility in his series Retusche (Retouching) as a form of embellishment and an approach to an ideal. His machines are heightened and isolated by colouring the motifs with typical colours of industrial production. For the work groups m.n.o.p. and w.g.l., the artist partially coloured photos of exhibition situations in order to highlight forms of presentation in museums and design intentions in exhibition practice.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Retusche 031995C-Print, handkoloriert mit pigmentfreier Retuschierfarbe, Edition 01/0114.7 x 10cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Retusche (Retouching)A colour photograph of Sophia Loren, which Thomas Ruff had seen at an exhibition in Venice in 1995, drew his attention to a practice of representation as old as photography itself: the colouring of photographs. Whereas in the photograph of Sophia Loren, a star was embellished , by the additional colour, Ruff decided in 1995 to apply this practice to ten portraits he had seen in the medical textbook‚ Das Gesicht des Herzkranken (The Face of the Cardiac Patient) by Jörgen Schmidt-Voigt from the 1950s. He applied make up to the faces with a brush and protein glaze paint, applying eye shadow, rouge, and lipstick.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)09462003C-Print150 x 195cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Maschinen (Machinery)Around 2000, Thomas Ruff acquired roughly 2,000 photographs on glass negatives from the 1930s. These comprise the image archive of the former Rohde Dörrenberg company from Düsseldorf-Oberkassel, which produced machines and machine parts. The photographs were originally taken for the production of the company catalog and reflect the company s entire product range. To facilitate the manual cropping of the illustrated object at that time, the respective products were often photographed individually against a white background; the print was then retouched and further processed for final printing. Ruff emphasised this extremely elaborate preparation and image processing – the analog counterpart of digital processing by Photoshop – by colouring individual areas of the digitised images by means of deliberately set colours, similar to retouching, for the works in his series created between 2003 and 2005.Catalog IllustrationsIn the 1930s, the Rohde Dörrenberg company from Düsseldorf Oberkassel published a catalog of its drills and milling machines. It also offered machines with which the customer could service the tools, such as sharpening apparatus, grinding machines, and the tip-tapering machine illustrated here. The images in the product catalog are hardly recognisable as photographs. The processing steps of cropping, retouching, and re-photographing resulted in an image that is more reminiscent of a technical drawing than a photograph of a machine in a workshop. Thomas Ruff s series of pictures of machines thematise this elaborate path from photography to illustration in the product catalog and draws attention to the possibilities of staging and stylising objects in photography.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf 2020 (installation view)WG Bildkunst 2020Photo: WDR / Thomas KösterThomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)m.n.o.p.012013C-Print, Edition 01/0647.3 x 60cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020m.n.o.p.w.g.l.Two series by Thomas Ruff are based on black-and-white photographs from famous museum presentations of the 1940s and 1950s in New York and London. Thomas Ruff partially coloured the installation photographs digitally with a colour scheme reminiscent of the 1950s and enlarged them. While the artworks were left untouched – out of respect for the artists and their works – he coloured the carpets, the walls covered with fabric, and the ceilings. Through this treatment, he underscored the exhibition aesthetic of the 1940s to the 1960s and, with the resulting abstract coloured surface compositions, emphasised the design work of the exhibition organisers.All of this emphasises the contrast to today s widespread notion of the exhibition space as a white cube . m.n.o.p. (2013) presents processed installation views of the presentation of the Museum of Non-Objective Painting in New York (now the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum) with works by Wassily Kandinsky, Rudolf Bauer, and other artists from the collection, which took place in the first museum building on 24 East 54th Street in 1948. The motifs from w.g.l. (2017) were taken from the exhibition‚ Jackson Pollock 1912-1956, one of the most important exhibitions in terms of the mediation of contemporary art, which was presented at the Whitechapel Gallery in London in 1958.Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf 2020 (installation view)WG Bildkunst 2020Photo: WDR / Thomas KösterWith the exhibition Thomas Ruff, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen presents a comprehensive overview of one of the most important representatives of the Düsseldorf School of Photography. The exhibition ranges from series from the 1990s, which document Ruff s unique conceptual approach to photography, to a new series that is now being shown for the first time at K20: For Tableaux chinois, Ruff drew on Chinese propaganda photographs. Parallel to Thomas Ruff s exhibition, the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is also presenting highlights from the collection at K20 under the title Technology Transformation. Photography and Video in the Kunstsammlung, which also deals with artistic photography and technical imaging processes in art. With his manipulations of photographs from many different sources, Thomas Ruff comments in an incredibly clever way on how we see images in a digitalised world. Through his virtuoso handling of digital image processing, he confronts us with a critical examination of the image material he uses and its historical, political, and epistemological significance. Some of his most important series are represented in our collection, and we are very proud to dedicate a large-scale exhibition at K20 to this prominent representative of the Düsseldorf School of Photography, states Susanne Gaensheimer, Director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen.Thomas Ruff (b. 1958) is one of the internationally most important artists of his generation. Already as a student in the class of the photographers Bernd and Hilla Becher at the Düsseldorf Academy of Art in the early 1980s, he chose a conceptual approach to photography which is evident in all the workgroups within his multifaceted oeuvre and determines his approach to the most diverse pictorial genres and historical possibilities of photography. In order not to tie his investigations in the field of photography to the individual image found by chance, but rather to examine these in terms of image types and genres, Thomas Ruff works in series: A photograph, Ruff explains, is not only a photograph, but an assertion. In order to verify the correctness of this assertion, one photo is not enough; I have to verify it on several photos. The exhibition at K20 focuses on series of pictures from two decades in which the artist hardly ever used a camera himself. Instead, he appropriated existing photographic material from a wide variety of sources for his often large-format pictures.Thomas Ruff s contribution to contemporary photography thus consists in a special way in the development of a form of photography created without a camera. He uses images that have already been taken and that have already been disseminated in other, largely non-artistic contexts and optimised for specific purposes. The modus operandi and the origin of the material first became the subject of Ruff s own work in the series of newspaper photographs, which were produced as early as 1990. The exhibition focuses precisely on this central aspect of his work. The pictorial sources that Ruff has tapped for these series range from photographic experiments of the nineteenth century to photo taken by space probes. He has questioned the archive processes of large picture agencies and the pictorial politics of the People s Republic of China. Documentations of museum exhibitions, as well as pornographic and catastrophic images from the Internet, are starting points for his own series of works, as are the product photographs of a Düsseldorf-based machine factory from the 1930s. They originate from newspapers, magazines, books, archives, and collections or were simply available to everyone on the Internet. In each series, Ruff explores the technical conditions of photography in the confrontation with these different pictorial worlds: the negative, digital image compression, and even rasterisation in offset printing. At the same time, he also takes a look at the afterlife of images in publications, archives, databases, and on the Internet.For Tableaux chinois, the latest series, which is being shown for the first time at K20, Ruff drew on Chinese propaganda photographs: products of the Mao era driven to perfection, which he digitally processed. In his artistic treatment of this historical material, the analog and digital spheres overlap; and in this visible overlap, Ruff combines the image of today s highly digitalised China with the Chinese understanding of the state in the 1960s and its manipulative pictorial politics.From the ma.r.s. series created between 2010 and 2014, there are eight works on view that have never been shown before, for which Ruff used images of a NASA Mars probe. Viewed through 3D glasses, the rugged surface of the red planet folds into the space in front of and behind the surface of the large-format images. Moving through the exhibition space and comprehending how the illusion is broken and tilted, one is introduced to Ruff s concern to understand photography as a construction of reality that first and foremost represents a surface – a surface that is, however, set in a historical framework of technology, processing, optimisation, transmission, and distribution.His hitherto oldest image sources are the paper negatives of Captain Linnaeus Tripe. When Tripe began taking photographs in South India and Burma, today s Myanmar, for the British East India Company in 1854, he provided the first images of a world that was, for the British public, both far away and unknown. Since then, the world has become a world that has always been photographed. It is this already photographed world that interests the artist Thomas Ruff and for which he has also been called a historian of the photographic (Herta Wolf). The exhibition therefore not only provides an overview of Ruff s work over the past decades, but also highlights nearly 170 years of photographic history. In each series, Ruff formulates highly complex perspectives on the photographic medium and the world that has always been photographed.Further series in the exhibition are the two groups of works referring to press photography, Zeitungsfotos (1990/91) and press++ (since 2015), the series nudes (since 1999) and jpeg (since 2004), which refer to the distribution of photographs on the Internet, as well as Fotogramme (since 2012), Negatives (since 2014), Flower.s (since 2019), Maschinen (2003/04), m.n.o.p. (2013), and w.g.l. (2017) – and, with Retouching (1995), a rarely shown series of unique pieces.Text from the press kit from the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenThomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)m.n.o.p.082013C-Print47.3 x 60cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Thomas Ruff (German, b. 1958)w.g.l.012017C-Print42.6 x 60cm© VG Bild-Kunst, Bonn 2020Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-WestfalenK20, Grabbeplatz 540213 DüsseldorfOpening hours:Tuesday Friday 10am 6pmSaturday, Sunday, public holiday 11am 6pmThe Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen is closed on December 24, 25 and 31Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen websiteLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Untitled (Three Legged Dog)1974Gelatin silver printCollectie Kunstmuseum Den Haag© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistConceptPathosPortraitPolaroidPerformanceHistoryHumourHumanityMaster / artistHuman / beingDr Marcus Bunyan.Many thankx to the Hague Museum of Photography for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.People like us / People we likeI didn t always dress up the dogs. My first dog Man Ray was spared anthropomorphic adornment. That was left for Fay Ray. Fay and I came to a mutual realisation that she had a desire to be observed. Anyway, I found myself looking at her for long periods of time. Then one day, after some looking, I made her tall. Before long I was blurring the pedestal with fabric and creating the illusion of the anthropomorphic vertical. With the birth of Fay s puppies, my cast of characters grew. Fay s puppies – Chundo, Battina and Crooky – grew up watching their famous mother, and when it came their turn they were not taken by surprise. They knew what to do.Colour fieldsI began by ignoring colour, using the colour Polaroid film as though it were black and white. I distrusted colour. Sensuous, romantic, elusive colour. Colour was well colourful. In fact, the first few days with the Polaroid camera I made only black-on-black pictures. Man Ray under a black cloth against a black background. Polaroid film is very beautiful within a limited range. Man Ray was too dark for this film but Fay was perfect. With Fay I began to explore colour and light.WeimaranersNo other breed that I am aware of is as conducive to the illusion of transformation as Weimaraners. Weimaraners are called grey ghosts . Their fur gives off an almost iridescent glow. They inhabit their forms in a strange way, never appearing to solidify into themselves as, say, a lab, a collie or a bulldog does. When you photograph a collie, you get a collie.TalesOne day my assistant Andrea stood behind Fay to adjust her dress and she gestured out to me with her hand. Her long human arm appeared as Fay s. The illusion startled me. A miracle. Kind of creepy. Fay was part human. I thought of cartoons and mythology, superheroes and Egyptian gods. Next thing you know, Batty s son Chip was playing the flute.Sit! / Stay!The dogs have an obvious pride in what they do. They can sense the feeling in the room when they are working. If it s a great picture or a difficult picture, they can feel what happens because everyone stops and goes Wow! Fay was particularly agile and for her I concocted a series of anatomically challenging poses. I came to understand her balance and points of physical tension. Fay liked the challenge of a difficult pose. I think she liked to impress me.Vogue / StyleI have a very awkward relationship with fashion. I’m a little bit timid about it. This isn t the attitude of the typical fashion photographer. Fortunately, my Weimaraners are the perfect fashion models. Their slinky elegant forms are covered in grey, and grey, as everyone knows, goes with anything.Nudes / PhysiqueUp close, unadorned, standing, sitting or lying before the eye of the big camera, the dogs become landscapes, a forest of trees, a topography of hills and valleys, earth and boulders, in a shoreline of endless interconnectivity.CubistsSince 1972 I have had a habit of keeping a white box in the studio. If I can t think of anything to do, the box is a good place to start. The original work I made with this box alluded to Sol LeWitt s minimal sculptures of the 1960s, but this is now a fading memory. I use a box the way a philosopher uses a chair, as a physical object representing hypothetical questions: How many ways can a dog fit on a box? , How many dogs can fit in a box? , Around a box? And on and on. On these square wheels, round questions keep rolling..William WegmanFotomuseum – William Wegman from Kunstmuseum Den Haag on Vimeo.Many artists have a muse. Movie directors perfect their craft working repeatedly with their favourite actors, while choreographers create some of their best works for a specific dancer. In some cases, the muse is a silent partner, the object of an artist s intense and obsessive gaze; in others the work emerges from a partnership so close that it is unclear which is the artist and which is the muse. For the American artist William Wegman (b. 1943), his muses have been generations of the Weimaraner breed. The inspiration came in 1970 when his first dog, Man Ray – named after Wegman s favourite artist – sat himself in front of the camera. Instead of sending his faithful companion to his bed, Wegman seized the moment, and the rest is history. Wegman was already a well-known artist, but it is his numerous, human-like portraits of his ever-expanding cast of Weimaraners that have brought him worldwide fame. In partnership with renowned guest curator William A. Ewing and the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography, Fotomuseum Den Haag presents a major survey of no fewer than four decades of Wegman s wide-ranging collaboration with Man Ray, Fay Wray, Candy and their descendants.Press release from the Fotomuseum den HaagWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Constructivism2014Pigment print© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Dog Walker1990Colour Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Farm Boy1996Colour Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Tamino with magic flute1996Colour Polaroid photograph61.0 x 50.8cmCollection of the artist© William WegmanIn Mozart s The Magic Flute, the Queen of the Night persuades Prince Tamino to rescue her daughter Pamina from captivity under the high priest Sarastro; instead, he learns the high ideals of Sarastro s community and seeks to join it. Separately, then together, Tamino and Pamina undergo severe trials of initiation, which end in triumph, with the Queen and her cohorts vanquished. The earthy Papageno, who accompanies Tamino on his quest, fails the trials completely but is rewarded anyway with the hand of his ideal female companion, Papagena.William Wegman (American, b. 1943)George1997Colour Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Wall1997Colour Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Cut to Reveal1997Colour Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Feathered Footwear1999Colour Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Casual2002Colour Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman: Being HumanMany great artists have a muse. Sometimes this muse is a silent partner, the object of an artist’s obsessive gaze. At other times the relationship is a deeply collaborative act.The history of photography has its own celebrated cases: Jacques-Henri Lartigue and Renée Perle, for example, or Alfred Stieglitz and Georgia O Keeffe. For William Wegman, whose muses have been all these things and more, inspiration arrived almost half a century ago, when a Weimaraner who had joined the family showed both aptitude and passion for performing before the camera. In honour of one of Wegman s most admired modern artists, he was named Man Ray, the first in a line of highly spirited performers.William Wegman is a renowned and versatile American artist who resists an easy classification as he moves adroitly between painting, drawing, photography, film, video, books and performances. Although his famed Weimaraners are not featured in all these media, they reside at the core of his art. In the late 1970s Wegman found, in the large-format Polaroid print, his ideal means of expression – the perfect print size, exquisite colour and an instantaneity which allowed for spontaneity and beneficial accidents . When his Polaroid chapter finally came to an end, the artist shifted to working digitally, rediscovering in this new medium what was essential to him about the Polaroid process: the print size, expressive colour and the studio set-ups.Wegman s world may revolve around his dogs, but his choice of sets, costumes and props betray a fascination with art history – Cubism, colour field painting, Abstract Expressionism, Constructivism, Conceptualism and the like. The diverse fields of photography also intrigue the artist, and we find in his work landscapes, nudes, portraits, reportage and fashion.And yet, is it all really about dogs? Being Human suggests otherwise: these performers are us and we are them: housewife, astronaut, lawyer, priest, farm worker, even a dog walker! Some pose proudly and with confidence, others express doubts or vulnerabilities. It s all about being human.William A. Ewing. Exhibition curatorWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Upside Downward2006Color Polaroid© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)From the spirit world2006Colour Polaroid photograph61.0 x 50.8cmCollection of the artist© William WegmanWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)On base2007Colour Polaroid photograph61.0 x 50.8cmCollection of the artist© William WegmanWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Cursive Display2013Pigment Print© William Wegman. Courtesy of the artistWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)Contact2014pigment print111.7 x 86.4cmCollection of the artist© William WegmanWilliam Wegman (American, b. 1943)V2017Colour polaroid photographCollection of the artist© William WegmanFotomuseum Den HaagStadhouderslaan 432517 HV Den HaagOpening hours:Tuesday Sunday 11.00 17.00The museum is closed on MondaysFotomuseum Den Haag websiteLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topAndrew Rumann (Australian, 1905-1974)Untitled [Departure from Circular Quay, Sydney for Fremantle and Singapore]1941Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmThese photographs were given to me in an envelope titled Gunner Andrew Rumann embarkation for Singapore, August 1941 . I have carefully digitally scanned and cleaned them. The attribution seems correct for the first group of photographs in the posting, Departure from Circular Quay, Sydney for Fremantle and Singapore, but not for the rest. I have located Rumann s POW record and found several pictures of the ship he would have taken to travel to Singapore.The other photographs in the posting show Australian armed services personnel (none are American), but there are several anomalies that enable me to say that these are later photographs. Four Australian women personnel stand in front of an American Red Cross sign, and the ARC (or Amcross) did not arrive in Australia until 1942. And in the photograph Transportation Corps US Army BKC*23, the men an women are standing on a US Army transportation barge, unlikely to have been in Australian waters before 1942. Behind them Carley floats hang from their tethers.As always, what interests me most about these photographs are the details contained within: the casualness of the men waiting at Post Exchange No. 2, with their sandals, singlets and slough hats; the man caught mid-clamber, climbing up into the truck in Taking out the rubbish; the women in dark glasses and hat sheltering her eyes from the sun in BKC*23; the men peering out of the portholes in the same photograph, one with a fag in his mouth.We can feel the heat emanating from these photographs (it must be summer). All the men are in shorts and topless. In photographs such as Transportation Corps US Army BKC*23 and Embarkation we can admire their lithe bodies, and observe the ubiquitous 1940s mop of curly hair with short back and sides. They were already athletic before departure, but imagine fighting in the stinking hot forests of Burma on Army rations, or ending up in a Japanese prisoner of war camp, with so little meat on the bone to start with. You would be a skeleton before long. Finally, there is one personal sign that you can make out in the crowd seeing off the troops to Singapore from Circular Quay in 1941. Jim Carr it reads. Did he survive the war? Who knows.More than 15,000 Australian soldiers were captured at the fall of Singapore. Of these, more than 7000 would die as prisoners of war, some in transport ships on their way to Japan, sadly torpedoed by Allied submarines. Andrew Rumann survived his trip to Japan as a POW and returned to Australia after the war. He died in 1974 aged 68 years old.Dr Marcus Bunyan.All photographs have been digitally scanned and cleaned by Marcus Bunyan. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.Gunner Andrew RumannHeadquarters, Royal Australian Artillery, 8th Division, Australian Imperial Force (AIF)Service Number – NX26452Date of birth – 13 Sep 1905Place of birth – HungaryPlace of enlistment – Paddington NSWNext of Kin – Rumann, RenaMalaya, captured at SingaporeCamp: Osaka, JapanAndrew died in 1974 in Toor, Australia at 68 years oldIn January 1941 a large component of the Australian Army s recently raised 8th Division was posted to Malaya. An element of some 6000 men departed Sydney in the liner Queen Mary as part of Convoy US9 on 4 February 1941, arriving in Singapore two weeks later on 18 February. A further 5000 troops in Convoy US11B arrived at Keppel Harbour on 15 August 1941. Under the command of Major General Gordon Bennett, the force initially established its headquarters at Kuala Lumpur. Bennett had urged for specific territorial responsibility for his Division, and this resulted in an area which included Johore and Malacca, coming within his responsibility.The Australian Army 8th Division in Malaya eventually reached about 15,000 men. An apt description of the commander, Major General Henry (Gordon) Bennett, found in a Veterans Affairs publication, (Moremon Reid 2002) reads: A prominent citizen soldier, he had proven himself in World War I to be a fierce fighter and leader, but he was well known for his prickly temperament, argumentative nature and proneness to quarrel. His relations with senior British commanders and staff in Malaya were, at times, strained, as he grappled to maintain control of the Australian troops. Bennett s independent spirit did not fit into the Allied command structure, however his Division generally acquitted themselves well against a seasoned enemy.Walter Burroughs. The Naval Evacuation of Singapore – February 1942, on the Naval Historical Society of Australia website. June 2019 edition of the Naval Historical Review  [Online] Cited 04/09/2020.Convoy US11BConvoy US11BDeparted Sydney 29/7/1941 – Arrived Fremantle 6/8/1941Departed Fremantle 8/8/1941 – Arrived Singapore 15/8/1941Ships: Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt, Katoomba, HMAS Sydney, Marnix Van St. Aldegonde, HMAS Canberra, Sibajak.In late July 1941 a convoy was organised to transport 8th Division troops to Singapore. The convoy included three Dutch passenger ships, and escort ships from the Royal Australian Navy.Summary of Embarkation for Johan van Oldenbarnevelt (HMT FF)The following troops embarked Johan Van Oldenbarnevelt at Woolloomooloo, Sydney on 29/7/1941 for the voyage to Singapore.61524 – 8 Division Artillery29 men arrived including 3 officers, 1 warrant officer, 3 sergeants, 22 corporals and privates.(Source: Australian Army War Diary 1/15/14 – District Records Office Eastern Command May – July 1941)Troopship 32 Voyage 4She [JVO] departed Sydney on July 17 and headed for Auckland New Zealand where she arrived on July 21 and departed again on the 22nd. She returned to Sydney arriving on July 25 and departed again on the 29th, sailing via Fremantle to Singapore arriving on August 15. End of Troop voyage 4.Johan van Oldenbarnevelt on the way to Fremantle, 1/8/1941Aerial Starboard side view of the Dutch liner Johan van Oldenbarnevelt transporting Australian troops to the Middle East as part of convoy US11B. Note the 4.7 pound gun and 12 pounder AA gun aft1st August 1941Australian War Memorial Naval Historical CollectionPublic domainTrooper Johan van Oldenbarnevelt is seen departing Wellington New Zealand during Troop Voyage 6 on September 15, 1941 – Note the guns up on the aft section!Andrew Rumann (Australian, 1905-1974)Untitled [Departure from Circular Quay, Sydney for Fremantle and Singapore]1941Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmCircular Quay with the Sydney Harbour Trust building at left in the background. The spire is the CQ Fire Station No. 3.Andrew Rumann (Australian, 1905-1974)Untitled [Departure from Circular Quay, Sydney for Fremantle and Singapore]1941Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAndrew Rumann (Australian, 1905-1974)Untitled [Departure from Circular Quay, Sydney for Fremantle and Singapore] (detail)1941Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmNX26452 Gunner Andrew Rumann POW entryAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Encampment]1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Women standing in front of an American Red Cross sign]1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmThe American Red Cross (ARC or Amcross) in Australia during WW2 became the largest hotel and restaurant chain in Australia at the time. Amcross was headed by Norman H. Davis with its headquarters in Sydney, NSW. Four American women led by Miss Helen Hall arrived in Australia in about late August 1942 to take charge of American Red Cross Service Personnel and to establish new American Red Cross centres and to extend existing centres. Miss Hall was the administrative assistant to the delegate in charge of American Red Cross Service Clubs and Leave Areas in Australia. The other three women were Miss Hannah More Frazer, who was appointed Director of the American Red Cross Service Club in Melbourne in about September 1942; Miss Florice Langley who opened an ARC Service Club in Cairns, in far north Queensland; and Mrs. Anita Woodworth who opened an ARC Service Club in Charters Towers in north Queensland.Anonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Post Exchange No. 2]1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Post Exchange No. 2] (detail)1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Taking out the rubbish]1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [BKC*23]1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [BKC*23] (detail)1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Transportation Corps US Army BKC*23]1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmMike PeelCarley float2018CC-BY-SA-4.0Carley floatThe Carley float (sometimes Carley raft) was a form of invertible liferaft designed by American inventor Horace Carley (1838-1918). Supplied mainly to warships, it saw widespread use in a number of navies during peacetime and both World Wars until superseded by more modern rigid or inflatable designs. Carley was awarded a patent in 1903 after establishing the Carley Life Float Company of Philadelphia. Simply by casting it over the side, the lightweight Carley float could be launched more rapidly than traditional rigid lifeboat designs, and without the need for specialised hoists. It could be mounted on any convenient surface and survive the battering against the ship s sides during heavy seas. Unlike the rubber inflatable rafts of the period, it was relatively immune to compromise of its buoyant chambers. Seafarers in it were however completely exposed to the elements, and would suffer accordingly. An inquiry of 1946 reported that many sailors who had succeeded in getting to the safety of Carley floats had nevertheless succumbed to exposure before rescue could be made. The crew of the Canadian minesweeper HMCS Esquimalt, sunk offshore of Nova Scotia in April 1945, lost at least 16 to hypothermia during the six hours in which they awaited rescue. Few of the survivors could still walk.Despite these shortcomings many seamen did owe their lives to the Carley float. Chinese sailor Poon Lim survived for a record 133 days adrift in the South Atlantic aboard a Carley float after his freighter SS Benlomond was sunk on 23 November 1942. He fashioned fishing gear from components of the raft. He was close to death when discovered off the coast of Brazil on 5 April 1943, but was able to walk ashore unaided.Though its occupant did not survive, a shrapnel-ridden Carley float carried the body of an unknown man to land on Christmas Island in February 1942. The sun-bleached corpse had evidently spent a lengthy period at sea, though to this day it remains unknown from where the sailor had come. It has long been suspected that the body was that of a sailor from HMAS Sydney, which was lost with all hands under mysterious circumstances off the coast of Australia on 19 November 1941. A second Carley float, more confidently believed to be from Sydney, was recovered drifting 300 km off the Australian coast one week after the ship sank. It had been badly damaged by shellfire, but was empty. The float is now displayed at the HMAS Sydney exhibit of the Australian War Memorial, Canberra.Text from the Wikipedia websiteAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Transportation Corps US Army BKC*23] (detail)1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Embarkation]1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmAnonymous photographer (Australian)Untitled [Embarkation] (detail)1942-45Silver gelatin photograph5.5 x 5.3cmLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)White Tower, New York1948Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkAn interesting selection of media images, including some early Swiss and American photographs, which are rarely seen.Frank s perceptiveness of human beings and their context of being and becoming is incredible. Look at the faces in Landsgemeinde, Hundwil (1949, below), Paris (1952, below) and the attitude of the bodies, surmounted by the sun (top left), in London (1951, below). It is important to see what is invisible to others. Dr Marcus Bunyan.Many thankx to Fotostiftung Schweiz for allowing me to publish the photographs in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.The recently deceased Robert Frank is widely regarded as one of the most important photographers of our time. His book The Americans, first published in Paris in 1958 and then in New York the following year, is quite possibly the most influential photo book of the 20th century. As a kind of photographic road movie, it sketches a gloomy social portrait that served as a wake-up call to all of America at the time. And his personal style, alternating between documentary and subjective expression, radically changed post-war photography. But The Americans wasn t merely a spontaneous stroke of genius. Frank s early works already feature back stories and side plots that are closely connected to the themes and images of his legendary book. The Fotostiftung Schweiz holds a collection of lesser-known works – many of which were donated by the artist – which illustrate the consolidation of Frank s subjective style. In addition to essays from Switzerland and Europe, it also includes works from early 1950s America that are on par with the well-known classics, but remained unpublished for editorial reasons. At the heart of the exhibition Robert Frank – Memories is the narrative force of Frank s visual language, which developed in opposition to all conventions and only received international recognition when Frank had already abandoned photography and turned to the medium of film.The exhibition is accompanied by a presentation of the books that publisher Gerhard Steidl produced with Robert Frank over a period of more than 15 years.Robert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)New York City1948Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Landsgemeinde, Hundwil1949Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Landsgemeinde, Hundwil1949Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Landsgemeinde, Hundwil (detail)1949Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Landsgemeinde, Hundwil (detail)1949Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)London1951Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Paris1952Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)New York Cityearly 1950sGelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank, who was born in Zurich in 1924 and died last year in Canada, is widely regarded as one of the most important photographers of our time. Over the course of decades, he has expanded the boundaries of photography and explored its narrative potential like no other. Robert Frank travelled thousands of miles between the American East and West Coasts in the mid-1950s, going through nearly 700 films in the process. A selection of 83 black-and-white images from this blend of diary, sombre social portrait and photographic road movie would leave its mark on generations of photographers to come. The photobook The Americans was first published in Paris, followed by the US in 1959 – with an introduction by Beat writer Jack Kerouac, no less. Off-kilter compositions, cut-off figures and blurred motion marked a new photographic style teetering between documentation and narration that would have a profound impact on postwar photography.It is quite possibly the single most influential book in the history of photography; however, rather than being a spontaneous stroke of genius, Frank had worked on his subjective visual language for years. Many of his photographs from Switzerland, Europe and South America, as well as his rarely shown works from the USA in the early 1950s, are on a par with the famous classics from The Americans. The photographer s early work, which remained unpublished for editorial reasons and is therefore little known to this day, reveals connections to those iconic pictures that still define our image of America, even today.At the heart of the exhibition Robert Frank – Memories is the narrative force of Robert Frank s visual language, which developed in opposition to all conventions and only received international recognition after Frank had already abandoned photography and turned to the medium of film. The exhibition mainly features vintage silver gelatin prints from the collection of the Fotostiftung Schweiz, which either come from the former collection of Robert Frank s long-time friend Werner Zryd (now owned by the Swiss Confederation) or were donated to the Fotostiftung Schweiz by the artist himself. They are complemented by a number of loans from the Fotomuseum Winterthur. A presentation of the books and films that publisher Gerhard Steidl released with Robert Frank over a period of more than 15 years accompanies the exhibition (in the corridor leading to the library and in the seminar room).Early WorkIn March 1947, Robert Frank arrived in New York following an adventurous journey on a cargo ship. The young, ambitious photographer had found Switzerland too stifling and he hoped to gain new freedom in America liberated from social and family obligations. The photographer carried a 6×6 Rolleiflex and a small spiral-bound book of 40 photographs taken during his apprentice years from 1941 to 1946. This portfolio included landscapes, portraits, personal photojournalistic works, and meticulously executed still lifes, all of which reveal that the 22-year old was a highly skilled photographer. It is therefore unsurprising that influential Harper s Bazaar art director Alexey Brodovitch swiftly hired Frank as an assistant photographer after seeing his portfolio and first test photos.In the magazine s in-house photo studio, Frank photographed fashion industry products from clinical shots of women s shoes and every imaginable accessory to laboriously staged fashion shoots and occasionally even photojournalistic assignments offering a little more freedom. Frank was successful and rose through the ranks, but quickly realised that this industry cared only about money, an attitude to which he couldn t reconcile himself. Only a few months later, he quit his job in order to be able to work wholly free of constraints. He traveled to Peru and Bolivia the following year and often used his 35 mm Leica. Later he recalled: I was making a kind of diary. I was very free with the camera. I didn t think of what would be the correct thing to do; I did what I felt good doing. I was like an action painter. Frank returned to Europe in spring 1949. He photographed the yearly cantonal assembly in the Swiss canton of Appenzell Ausserrhoden, during which citizens (exclusively men back then) voted by a show of hands. However, he was unsuccessful in placing this story with a major periodical, even though he circulated the images via the acclaimed agency Magnum. Evidently, Frank had focused too little on the actual events. He was more interested in the bystanders stances than in the pomp of government officials wearing tailcoats and top hats. His photographs of this assembly prefigure the penetrating and critical gaze he would later level on America’s societal and political landscape. Here as there, his was an outsider s subjective and inward looking perspective.Black White and ThingsIn late 1949, the international magazine Camera published a first selection of Robert Frank s work. The accompanying text described him as a photographer who loved truth and unvarnished reality , as someone whose thirst for experience compelled him to get out and capture life with his camera . Indeed, Frank worked chiefly in Paris, London, and Spain between 1949 and 1953, frequently traveling between Europe and the US. He reported on a bullfighter in Spain and observed life in London s financial district. In Paris he took pictures of objects – mostly chairs and flowers – photographs he assembled in an album dedicated to his future wife. In subsequent years, he shook off any sentimental tendencies.Frank continued his attempts to publish both smaller and more substantial stories and photo essays in glossy magazines such as Life, but with limited success. His reportage on Welsh coal miner Ben James, which appeared in U.S. Camera 1955 annual, was a rare exception. But Frank found himself less and less able to reconcile himself with the conventional view of photography as a universal language accessible to all. Instead, he increasingly distanced himself from print media s expectations and developed a strong aversion to what he once termed stereotypical Life stories , those goddamned stories with a beginning and an end .In autumn 1952, Frank created Black White and Things with his Zurich-based friend Werner Zryd. This handmade book comprising 34 photographs was an attempt to counter these expectations with something new: an intuitively ordered series of photos with neither text nor linear narrative structure, introduced simply by Saint-Exupéry s famed lines from The Little Prince: It is only with the heart that one can see rightly; what is essential is invisible to the eye. Accordingly, Black White and Things is a kind of three-part visual poem: Black evokes death, materialism, loneliness, and anonymity; White evokes home, love, religion, and camaraderie; and Things engages with diametrical oppositions such as friendship and cruelty, and affection and solitude. The order and pairing of the images sparks thoughts, associations, and feelings. Yet Frank s evocative arrangement is intentionally ambiguous and open: Something must be left for the onlooker, he must have something to see. It is not all said for him. America, AmericaAfter a further trip to New York – which he assured his mother would be his last – Robert Frank applied for a Guggenheim fellowship in October 1954. His project proposal was for an observation and record of what one naturalised American finds to see in the United States that signifies the kind of civilisation born here and spreading elsewhere . The result was to be a book, for which he had already won support from Arnold Kübler, the long-standing editor of the Zurich-based culture magazine Du, and Robert Delpire, a young publisher in Paris. Thanks to help from Alexey Brodovitch, Walker Evans, Edward Steichen and others, Frank was the first European photographer to be awarded this generous fellowship. The award made it possible for him to set off on his now-legendary road trips across the US in spring 1955.Over almost two years, Frank took more than 20,000 photographs on his travels. He made roughly 1,000 work prints in the autumn and winter of 1956-57, which he pinned to the walls and laid on the floor of his apartment. At the time his home was East Village, New York, where artists including Alfred Leslie and Willem de Kooning also lived. Over many months Frank made countless passes through his photographs, eliminating those images he was unsure of and focusing on specific themes. He constantly rearranged the selection that was gradually coming together until he had a first mocked-up book with just under 90 images and the provisional title America, America. Frank took this book with him when he traveled to Europe in summer 1957, showing it to Delpire and his Swiss photographer friend Gotthard Schuh.Over the years, the America photographs not included in his final selection disappeared into archives and collections or even got lost altogether. Only recently has it been possible to ascertain that many of the rejected and unpublished photographs were of the same caliber as the 83 book images Frank and Delpire agreed on. Frank s contact sheets show that these photos were often taken directly before or after the images that have become icons of photographic history. Rather than putting forth a single message, Frank s dark take on 1950s America contains impressive variations, facets, and excursuses that made a powerful impression on many, including his early supporter, Schuh. Schuh wrote to his young friend: I don t know America, but your photographs frighten me because in them you show, with visionary alertness, things that affect us all. The AmericansFollowing the first French edition of Les Américains, Robert Frank s book was published as The Americans in New York in 1959. The English edition dropped the cover illustration and the selection of texts on America (which Delpire had insisted on over Frank s protests), and added an introduction by Jack Kerouac. Frank had much in common with the Beat poets, though he only met them after his Guggenheim-funded travels. Like Kerouac s main character in On the Road, Frank crisscrossed the country with apparent aimlessness, working spontaneously. Moreover, his work shares a stylistic consonance with Beat literature: Frank had abandoned all technical conventions and photographed intuitively instead. Many of his photographs are underexposed and grainy; they frame a scene and omit key details; their horizons are slanting and the lighting is often murky. Frank s focus was the everyday, the fleeting, and the marginal. People are shown turning away from the camera, and his landscapes are desolate and bleak, really more like Russia , as Frank once remarked to Kerouac. He flouted the rules he had learned during his early training as a photographer in Switzerland in order to be as true as possible to his subjective experience and to capture unvarnished reality.Kerouac s introduction begins with the words: That crazy feeling in America when the sun is hot on the streets and music comes out of the jukeboxes or from a nearby funeral, that s what Robert Frank has captured in tremendous photographs taken as he traveled on the road around practically forty-eight states in an old used car (on Guggenheim Fellowship) and with the agility, mystery, genius, sadness and strange secrecy of a shadow photographed scenes that have never been seen before on film The Americans is a long, poetic image arc with cross-references, digressions, and associations, but also mental leaps and ambiguities, which provoked many critics. Although most acknowledged that Frank s photographs were highly powerful, they read his take on Americans as a malicious attack on the country. Frank, a Jewish foreigner, was resented for picking up on the racism, hollow patriotism, commodified cheer, and political corruption lurking behind the façade of American society. Even before his groundbreaking book was published, Robert Frank wrote: Above all, I know that life for a photographer cannot be a matter of indifference. Opinion often consists of a kind of criticism. But criticism can come out of love. It is important to see what is invisible to others. Martin Gasser, CuratorRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019) Los Angeles 1955Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)City fathers – Hoboken, New Jersey1955Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Bus-Stop, Detroit1955Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Bar – Gallup, New Mexico1955Gelatin silver print© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New YorkRobert Frank (Swiss, 1924-2019)Charity Ball – New York1954© Andrea Frank Foundation; courtesy Pace / MacGill Gallery, New YorkCollection of the Swiss Photo FoundationMüller + Hess, Wendelin Hess and Jesse Wyss, Basel / ZurichFotostiftung SchweizGrüzenstrasse 45CH-8400 Winterthur (Zürich)Phone: +41 52 234 10 30Opening hours:Tuesday Sunday 11am 6pmWednesday 11am 8pmClosed on MondaysFotostiftung Schweiz websiteLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topG. S. Smith, Salt Lake City, UT[Taking in the view]c. 1880Albumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasWhile the premise for this exhibition is interesting – that cabinet cards acted as a primer for coaxing Americans into thinking about portraiture as an informal act, forging the way for the snapshot and social media with its contemporary selfie culture – in reality, the notion is far fetched.Of the many millions of cabinet cards produced during their period of proliferation (1880s-1910s), only a small percentage, perhaps as low as 3%, would ever fit the performative type illustrated in this posting. Most were of the solemn records of likeness and stature type , typically full-length, half-length or a head and shoulders portrait, usually of a single person, sometimes a couple or family. Even then, the performative type of cabinet card would have a limited distribution, either within the family or commercially.The four sections of the exhibition – Caught in the Act (actors, orators and other public figures); The Trade (commercial advertising); Sharing Life: Family and Friends (family albums); and Acting Out (people at play; reality and truth) – are logical partitions of these certain types of cabinet card. But what interests me more are the psychological aspects of having ones photograph taken. Why is the person s photograph being taken, at whose direction (the photographers, the sitters) who is posing the individual, what do they intend to convey through the image, who decides what that message is and, of course, how does the viewer decipher the message. The interpretation of a person s acting out and an observer s response varies considerably, with context and subject usually setting audience expectations. (Wikipedia)Here we must acknowledge that the acting out is not singular but plural, for it is as much an act on the part of the photographer as it is the sitter. How much the outcome is dependent on the director or the subject is an act of constant negotiation (and, of course, it is also an outcome of the ritual of production).The curator John Rohrbach observes that, In our current moment of selfie culture and social media-centered interaction, understanding the history of self-presentation and portraiture is more prescient than ever but this statement, linking cabinet cards and selfies, is a very very long bow to draw. This is because cabinet cards are not selfies as we perceive them now – informal snapshots taken by the self – but posed and performed photographic studies that require inherent discipline, structure and form constructed by the photographer and the sitter to achieve their end.I often wonder about the revelatory process of having one s portrait taken in the early days of photography. I know from texts that I have read that some people found the process slow and irritating, the results unsatisfactory. On the other hand, imagine being made to stand still for several seconds when you are not used to being completely still. Could there possibly be a moment in time and space, of meditation and reconciliation with oneself, a revelation in the stillness of the seconds of exposure. A revelation more spiritual than performative? *Two girls (1864, below)Dr Marcus Bunyan.Many thankx to the Amon Carter Museum of American Art for allowing me to publish the art work in the posting. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.ActingThe art or practice of representing a character on a stage or before cameras.Acting serves countless purposes including the following: It reminds us of times past and forgotten, or gives us a glimpse of a possible future. It portrays our raw, unadulterated, vulnerable, emotional, and at times, ugly, horrifying humanity. It provokes emotion, thought, discussion, awareness, or even imagination.Acting OutA child is acting out when they exhibit unrestrained and improper actions. The behaviour is usually caused by suppressed or denied feelings or emotions.Acting out reduces stress. It s often a child’s attempt to show otherwise hidden emotions. Acting out may include fighting, throwing fits, or stealing. In severe cases, acting out is associated with antisocial behaviour and other personality disorders in teenagers and younger children. Acting Out a) represents in action and b) translates into action, expressing (something, such as an impulse or a fantasy) directly in overt behaviour without modification, not complying with social norms.In the psychology of defence mechanisms and self-control, acting out is the performance of an action considered bad or anti-social. In general usage, the action performed is destructive to self or to others. The term is used in this way in sexual addiction treatment, psychotherapy, criminology and parenting. In contrast, the opposite attitude or behaviour of bearing and managing the impulse to perform one s impulse is called acting in.The performed action may follow impulses of an addiction (e.g. drinking, drug taking or shoplifting)[citation needed]. It may also be a means designed (often unconsciously or semi-consciously) to garner attention (e.g. throwing a tantrum or behaving promiscuously). Acting out may inhibit the development of more constructive responses to the feelings in question. InterpretationThe interpretation of a person s acting out and an observer s response varies considerably, with context and subject usually setting audience expectations.AlternativesActing out painful feelings may be contrasted with expressing them in ways more helpful to the sufferer, e.g. by talking out, expressive therapy, psychodrama or mindful awareness of the feelings. Developing the ability to express one s conflicts safely and constructively is an important part of impulse control, personal development and self-care.Anonymous. Acting out, on the Wikipedia website [Online] Cited 04/10/2020G. S. Smith, Salt Lake City, UT[Taking in the view] (detail)c. 1880Albumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasHowie, Detroit, MIGeorge Moore and Fred Howe1890sCollodion silver printRobert E. Jackson CollectionFred Howe, the Fatman and George Moore, the living skeleton; they are the most comical boxers in the world. Fred Howe s father was a carpenter at Alleghany City, Penn., and Fred started to learn the same trade, but soon became too fat. At the age of eighteen he joined the Forepaugh Circus as a tat boy, and there met his present sparring partner.George Moore was born in Helena, Montana, where his father had a little dry goods shop. Until he was twenty-one years of age George worked in his father s shop. But his greatest desire was to see the world. When the fist big circus came to Helena, the manager offered him an engagement to exhibit himself as the living skeleton, and he closed with the offer at once. Fred Howe, they soon became great friends. The doctors advised both to take as much exercise as possible – the one to gain flesh, and the other to get rid of it. These smart Yankee lads then resolved to combine duty with pleasure, so they went in for boxing. For a long time they practised privately. One day, however, the manager was told of the fun by some of his freaks, who had been allowed to see a set-to between the two gladiators. The manager then arranged a round or two, and the moment he saw Howe and Moore face each other, he offered them a long engagement at an increased salary, if only they would do their boxing before the public. Today these funny fellows are not only expert boxers, but also perfect comedians in their art. Their boxing is uproariously funny.Moore is 6ft. 3in. in height, and weighs but 97lb., Howe is only 4ft. 2in. high, and weights exactly 422lb.The Strand MagazineHowie, Detroit, MIGeorge Moore and Fred Howe (detail)1890sCollodion silver printRobert E. Jackson CollectionAlfred U. Palmquist (Swedish, 1850-1922) and Peder T. Jurgens, St. Paul, MN[Skater]1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasThe Swede Alfred U. Palmquist (1850-1922) immigrated to America in 1872. In 1874, together with the Norwegian Peder T. Jurgens he opened the photo studio Palmquist Jurgens in St. Paul, Minnesota.Alfred Palmquist was born in Finland to Swedish parents on June 21, 1850. We know nothing about his childhood and upbringing except that he emigrated to Minnesota in the United States at the age of twenty-two. A year later, he and a colleague started a photo studio in Saint Paul, Minnesota, which was named Palmquist Lake.Ten years later, in 1883, Palmquist entered into a collaboration with Peder T. Jurgens. We only know about his partner Jurgens that he was Norwegian and had previously supported himself as an economist. Peder Jurgens worked in the company between the years 1882 to 1888. The new company was then of course named Palmquist Jurgens and lived on until the beginning of the 20th century. During the 1870s and 1880s, most photographers worked in their studios Palmquist Jurgens was such a typical photography company that preferred people to come to their studio to be photographed. The company had specialised in photographing famous families in Saint Paul.M. C. Hosford, West Rutland, VT[Getting the cleaver]1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasM. C. Hosford, West Rutland, VT[Getting the cleaver] (detail)1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasM. C. Hosford, West Rutland, VT[Getting the cleaver] (detail)1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasM. C. Hosford, West Rutland, VT[Getting the saw]1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasActing Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography offers the first-ever in-depth examination of the photographic phenomenon of cabinet cards. Cabinet cards were America s main format for photographic portraiture through the last three decades of the nineteenth century. Inexpensive and sold by the dozen, they transformed getting one s portrait made from a formal event taken up once or twice in a lifetime into a commonplace practice shared with family and friends.Building on the museum s history as a leader in American photography, this exhibition reveals how photography studios and their sitters across the United States introduced immediacy to studio portraiture and transformed their sessions into avenues of fun and personal expression. Sections will trace the cabinet card s development and evolution, from its beginnings in celebrity culture through the marketing and advertising innovations of practitioners to the diversity of what people brought to their sittings. Not only did Americans embrace photography as a commonplace fact of life during these years, they openly played with the medium s believability. In short, cabinet cards made photography modern.This August, the Amon Carter Museum of American Art will present Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography, an exhibition offering the first in-depth examination of the nineteenth-century photographic phenomenon of cabinet cards. Charting the proliferation of this under appreciated photographic format, Acting Out reveals that cabinet cards coaxed Americans into thinking about portraiture as an informal act, forging the way for the snapshot and social media with its contemporary selfie culture. Acting Out presents hundreds of photographs – many on view publicly for the first time – from collections nationwide, including examples from the Carter s own extensive photography collection. On view August 18 through November 1, 2020, the exhibition is organised by the Carter and will travel to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art.In the second half of the nineteenth century, cabinet cards gave birth to the golden age of photographic portraiture in America. Measuring 6 1/2 by 4 1/4 inches, roughly the size of the modern-day smartphone screen, they were three times larger than the period s leading photographic format. This larger size revealed previously obscured details in the images captured, encouraging action-ready gestures and the introduction of an astonishing array of props. Where photographs had once functioned as solemn records of likeness and stature, cabinet cards offered a new outlet for entertainment and remembering life s everyday moments.Acting Out investigates how this new performative medium prompted sitters to become far more comfortable with having their portrait made. By the time Eastman Kodak introduced its new affordable Brownie camera in 1900, cabinet cards had primed Americans to photograph every aspect of their lives. Though produced over 100 years ago, cabinet cards have a familiarity and a levity that resonates with our experience of photography today. Acting Out exemplifies the Carter s commitment to organising exhibitions rooted in groundbreaking scholarship, a core tenet of our curatorial philosophy, stated Andrew J. Walker, Executive Director. This exhibition harnesses the resources of our vast photography collection and archive to show visitors the contemporary relevance of the medium s pre-modern history. The exhibition is organised into four sections chronicling the birth and evolution of the cabinet card:Caught in the Act: Actors, orators, and other public figures were among the first to embrace cabinet cards. This section examines how the creative innovations employed by New York photographer Napoleon Sarony and his cohorts built public enthusiasm for a new kind of photographic portraiture founded on a relaxed sense of immediacy that influenced studio photographers across America.The Trade: This section looks at the entertaining and evocative ways that photographers worked to overcome low prices and fierce competition, and to stand out from their peers. Their creative solutions gave rise to the ubiquity of cabinet cards across America by the 1880s.Sharing Life: Family and Friends: Over the last quarter of the nineteenth century, cabinet cards were often the favoured means for recording and celebrating family life. This evocative section reveals the ways in which cabinet cards established a model for family albums as channels for sharing and boasting of the joys and transits of life.Acting Out: If portraiture was the ostensible subject of cabinet cards, play was just as important. This section examines Americans acceptance of the camera as a tool for shared amusement as they toyed with photography s pretence of reality and truth. In our current moment of selfie culture and social media-centered interaction, understanding the history of self-presentation and portraiture is more prescient than ever, said John Rohrbach, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Carter. This exhibition reveals how nineteenth-century Americans approached photography far more playfully than ever before, a transformation that forever shifted our relationship to the medium. Acting Out: Cabinet Cards and the Making of Modern Photography was organised by the Amon Carter Museum of American Art. The exhibition is supported in part by the Alice L. Walton Foundation Temporary Exhibitions Endowment and accompanied by a 232-page catalogue co-published with the University of California Press, Berkeley. The book is the first dedicated to the history of the cabinet card and features colour plates of 100 cards at their actual size. Contributors include Dr. John Rohrbach, Senior Curator of Photographs at the Amon Carter Museum of American Art; Dr. Erin Pauwels, Assistant Professor of American Art at Temple University; Dr. Britt Salvesen, Department Head and Curator of the Wallis Annenberg Department of Photography at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art; and Fernanda Valverde, Conservator of Photographs at the Carter.Press release from the Amon Carter Museum of American ArtUnknown photographer[Chess against myself]1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasUnknown photographer[Chess against myself] (detail)1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasHatch and White, Burlington, WI[Man in woman s clothing]c. 1891Collodion silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasBenjamin J. Falk, New York, NYHelena Luy1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasBenjamin J. FalkWhen Napoleon Sarony died in 1896, Benjamin J. Falk ascended to the first place in the world of performing arts photography Falk s contemporaries, who spoke primarily of the clarity, verisimilitude, and composure of his images, never recognised his greatest power as a portraitist. Falk was a man of extraordinary erotic engagement with his sitters, and the intensity of his attention becomes visible only when one sees the entirety of his work envisioning one of the several women – Belle Archer, Mrs. James Brown Potter, Cleo De Merode, Cissy Fitzgerald, Amy Busby, the Barrison Sisters – who capture his imagination. He was capable of refracting the sitter s beauty in a tremendous array of scenes, costumes, and attitudes, doing so without making the images seem artificial.When asked in 1893 what was most important in creating effective portraits, he replied matter of factly, I name expression, posing and lighting in the order as they appear to be most important. The technique of the profession being absolutely under the control of the operator since the introduction of the dry plates, there is no excuse now for any but perfect photographic results. I have always made my price high enough, so that I did not have to consider the cost of material while doing my work. The camera, in the proper hands, is, in many ways, a finer art tool to-day than the chisel or the brush, although, like them, it has its limitations.SpecialtyThe first strong adherent of artificial light sources in the studio, Benjamin Falk created portraits that were among the most dramatically sculptural looking images of the 19th and early 20th centuries. Possessed of a playful visual wit, he often experimented with his images, using curious juxtapositions, unusual poses, and lighting highlights to convey distinctiveness of personality. Increasingly indifferent to painted backdrops, he did many portraits against blank walls or bleached out backcloths. He began the fashion for faces and figures suspended in a milky white ground that became ubiquitous shortly after 1900.Anonymous. Benjamin J. Falk, on the Broadway Photographers website [Online] Cited 05/09/2020Benjamin J. Falk, New York, NYHelena Luy (detail)1880sAlbumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasNapoleon Sarony, New York, NY[Fanny Davenport]c. 1870Albumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasNapoleon SaronyNapoleon Sarony (March 9, 1821 November 9, 1896) was an American lithographer and photographer. He was a highly popular portrait photographer, best known for his portraits of the stars of late-19th-century American theatre. His son, Otto Sarony, continued the family business as a theatre and film star photographer.Sarony was born in 1821 in Quebec, then in the British colony of Lower Canada, and moved to New York City around 1836. He worked as an illustrator for Currier and Ives before joining with James Major and starting his own lithography business, Sarony Major, in 1843. In 1845, James Major was replaced in Sarony Major by Henry B. Major, and the firm continued operating under that name until 1853. From 1853 to 1857, the firm was known as Sarony and Company, and from 1857 to 1867, as Sarony, Major Knapp. Sarony left the firm in 1867 and established a photography studio at 37 Union Square, during a time when celebrity portraiture was a popular fad. Photographers would pay their famous subjects to sit for them, and then retain full rights to sell the pictures. Sarony reportedly paid the internationally famous stage actress Sarah Bernhardt $1,500 to pose for his camera, equivalent to $42,683 in 2019. In 1894, he published a portfolio of prints entitled Sarony s Living Pictures .Text from the Wikipedia websiteNapoleon Sarony, New York, NY[Fanny Davenport] (detail)c. 1870Albumen silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasFanny Lily Gipsey DavenportFanny Lily Gipsey Davenport (April 10, 1850 September 26, 1898) was an English-American stage actress. The eldest child of Edward Loomis Davenport and Fanny Elizabeth (Vining) Gill Davenport, Fanny Lily Gypsey Davenport was born on April 10, 1850 in London.Most of her siblings were actors, including Harry Davenport. She was brought to the United States in 1854 and educated in the Boston public schools. At age 7, she appeared at Boston s Howard Athenæum as Metamora s child, but her real debut occurred in February 1862 when she portrayed King Charles in Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady at Niblo s Garden.In February 1862, she appeared in New York City at Niblo s Garden at the age of 12 as the King of Spain in Faint Heart Never Won Fair Lady. From 1869 to 1877, she performed in Augustin Daly s company; and afterwards, with a company of her own, acted with especial success in Sardou s Fédora (1883) her leading man being Robert B. Mantell, Cleopatra (1890), and similar plays. She took over emotional Sardou roles that had been originated in Europe by Sarah Bernhardt. Her last appearance was at the Grand Opera House in Chicago on March 25, 1898, shortly before her death.Her first husband was Edwin B. Price, an actor. They married on July 30, 1879, and divorced on June 8, 1888. On May 18, 1889, she married her leading man, Melbourne MacDowell. Both marriages were childless. Davenport died September 26, 1898, from an enlarged heart, at her summer home in Duxbury, Massachusetts.Text from the Wikipedia websiteUnknown photographer[Two girls]1864Albumen silver print (carte de visite)Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasUnknown photographer[Two girls] (detail)1864Albumen silver print (carte de visite)Amon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasA. M. Nikodem, Chicago, IL[Cat]1880sAlbumen silver printRobert E. Jackson CollectionA.M. NikodemAccording to Origin, Growth, and Usefulness of the Chicago Board of Trade: Its Leading Members, and Representative Business Men in other Branches of Trade (1885): Miss A.M. Nikodem, Photographic Artist. No. 701 West Madison Street. – One of the most popular and finely appointed photographic studios in Chicago is that conducted by Miss A.M. Nikodem, who succeeded Mr. M. T. Baldwin one year ago. This lady, who is regarded as one of the most skilful and accomplished photographic artists in the city, occupies an entire two-storied building completely equipped with all modern improvements and appliances and her elegantly furnished parlours are the resort of the élite of Chicago. Miss Nikodem is the only lady in the city who give personal attention to the taking of pictures, etc., and having had an extended practical and theoretical training she has attained a marked perfection in her art. In social circles Miss Nikodem occupies a prominent position both as a skilful artist and estimable lady, while in the business world she is held in high esteem as an enterprising and capable woman. Nikodem occupied the studio at this address from 1885-1891, and then moved to another location. 1895 is the last year in which she seems to be listed in Chicago city guides. Despite her prominence, photographs from her studio are exceptionally uncommon. Nikodem s skill is fully on display in this portrait. The three or four other examples of her work we could find, all in library special collections, are all of women or girls, and they display a uniform artistic excellence and technical photographic skill.W. A. White, Wilson, KSMy first baby friend Tompie and his pet1896Collodion silver printRobert E. Jackson CollectionW. A. White, Wilson, KSMy first baby friend Tompie and his pet (detail)1896Collodion silver printRobert E. Jackson CollectionW. A. Wilcoxon, Bonaparte, IA[Baby]1890sCollodion silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasUnknown photographer[Painter]1890sAlbumen silver printWilliam L. Schaeffer CollectionUnknown photographer[Painter] (detail)1890sAlbumen silver printWilliam L. Schaeffer CollectionCharles L. Griffin, Scranton, PA[Toddler with dog]c. 1892Gelatin silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasF. J. Nelson, Anoka, MNDomestic Breadc. 1890sCollodion silver printAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasGilbert G. Oyloe (American, 1851-1927) Ossian, IA[Woman]1880sAlbumen silver printRobert E. Jackson CollectionOyloe had a studio in Ossian during the 1880 s and 1890 s.James F. Ryder, Cleveland, OHVerso1880sPlanographic printGift of Robert E. JacksonAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasCharles Quartley, Baltimore, MD[Church woman]1880sAlbumen silver printRobert E. JacksonCaroline Bergman, Louisville, KYUntitled [Bergman s Photograph Gallery]c. 1890Relief printGift of Robert E. JacksonAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasLouise and Caroline BergmanLouis Bergman opened a Louisville photo studio in 1872 on W Market. After 1885, however, Caroline Bergman (his wife) is listed as the proprietor and photographer, and Louis is listed only as manager . This very successful studio was in operation until 1896.Louis Bergman s studio was located at 56 58 Market Street, in Louisville, Kentucky. Perusal of Louisville business directories reveals that Bergman began business with a partner. Bergman Flexner; the firm was listed in the 1868 and 1869 directories. He was reported to be the sole proprietor of a studio from 1872 until 1886. Bergman was listed at a number of different addresses over these years. Using these addresses, it appears that this particular photograph was taken between 1873 and 1881. From 1886 through 1894 the proprietor of the studio became Caroline Bergman. The Photographic Times and American Photographer (1883) reported that Bergman was Vice President of the Photographers Mutual Benefit Society of Louisville. Louis Bergman (c. 1838 -?) was born in Hanover, Germany to Prussian parents. His wife, Carrie (1845 -?) was born in Louisiana to German parents. The couple married  in about 1865. The Bergman s had a daughter, Lillie, who was 12 years-old at the time of the 1880 census. The census listed Louis as a photographer and Carrie as a homemaker. It is interesting to note that when the couples daughter reached 18 years of age, Carrie became the studio s proprietor / photographer.Anonymous. Man with a Great Beard in Louisville, Kentucky, on The Cabinet Card Gallery website 03/01/2012 [Online] Cited 05/09/2020R. O. Helsom, Menomonie, WIVerso1880sRelief printGift of Robert E. JacksonAmon Carter Museum of American Art, Fort Worth, TexasCabinetsc. 1880sCelluloid-covered albumRobert E. Jackson CollectionAmon Carter Museum of American Art3501 Camp Bowie BoulevardFort Worth, TX 76107-2695Opening hours:Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday:
 10am 5pmThursday: 10am 8pmSunday: 12am 5pmClosed Mondays and major holidaysAmon Carter Museum of American Art websiteLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to top Exhibition dates: 26th June 27th October 2019Visited September 2019 posted September 2020Curators: Matthieu Rivallin and Pia ViewingAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Nageur sous l eau, EsztergomUnderwater swimmer, Esztergom1918Contact original … especially haptic qualities are demanded of the deconstructionist performer, spectator, and reader; not to follow optically the line of ideas in the text or in a picture and see only the representation proper, the surface, but to probe with the eyes the pictorial texture and even to enter the texture. 69 Such touching with the eye did not lead to a secure tactile experience of being firmly planted on the ground, for all grounds, all foundations, were suspect, however construed. We are, as Nietzsche knew, swimming in an endless sea, rather than standing on dry land. To touch a trace, groping blindly in the dark, is no more the guarantee of certainty than to see its residues. .Gandelman, Claude. Reading Pictures, Viewing Texts . Bloomington, Indiana, 1991, p. 140 quoted in Martin Jay. Downcast Eyes: The Denigration of Vision in Twentieth-Century French Thought . Berkley: University of California Press, 1993, p. 512.Touching with the eyePart 2 of a large posting on the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours, which I saw in Tours in September 2019.This posting contains photographs from his famous series Distortions (fascinating to see the original plates for the book of the same name, complete with cropping marks and red lead pencil annotations); American works from 1936 onwards, when Kertész moved to the United States to avoid the persecution of the Jews and the threat of World War II; and the late work colour Polaroids.I admit that Kertész is not my favourite photographer. While I admire some of his photographs, I feel emotionally distant from most of them. Edward Clay observes in the quotation below that Kertész was one of the most lyrical and formally inventive photographers of the twentieth-century [His photographs] often convey a quiet mood of melancholy He remains revered for his clarity of style and ability to blend simplicity with emotion, prizing impact over technical precision, seeking metaphors and geometry in everyday objects and scenarios, to turn the mundane into the surreal. Personally, I don t find his photographs emotional nor lyrical, only a few poetic. Not melancholic, but geometric. In later works, he simplifies, simplifies, simplifies much like his friend Mondrian did. For me, the balance between sacred / geometry, the sacred geometry of the mystery of things, is often unbalanced in these images (particularly relevant, given the title of this exhibition). Is it enough just to turn the mundane into the surreal? Where does that lead the viewer? Is it enough to just observe, represent, without digging deeper.At his best, in images such as Underwater swimmer, Esztergom (1918, above), Arm and Fan, New York (1937, below) and Washington Square, New York (1954, below) there is a structured, avant-garde mystery about the reality of the world, as re/presented through the object of the photograph, it’s physical presence. In Underwater swimmer, the body is stretched and distorted by an element, water, not a man-made mirror. His photographs from Hungary, Italy and early Paris possess a sensitivity of spirit that seems to have been excised from his life, the older he got. Far too often in later images, there is a brittleness to his photography, in which the object of reflection sits at the surface of the image, all sparkling in unflinching light. The single cloud oh so lonely in the sterile city; the man looking at the broken bench; the buy, buy, buy of consumer culture. You consumer Kertész s later images, you do not reflect on them.Dr Marcus Bunyan.All iPhone installation photographs © Marcus Bunyan. Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image. View Part 1 of the posting. André Kertész, one of the most lyrical and formally inventive photographers of the twentieth-century, whose work advocated for spontaneity over technical precision, has left a distinctive legacy of poetic images which form a bridge between the avant-garde and geometrical precision. A roamer for much of his life, his feelings of rootlessness manifest in his work and often convey a quiet mood of melancholy. Claiming I am an amateur and I intend to stay that way for the rest of my life , Kertesz was a great source of inspiration to photographic legends such as Cartier-Bresson.He remains revered for his clarity of style and ability to blend simplicity with emotion, prizing impact over technical precision, seeking metaphors and geometry in everyday objects and scenarios, to turn the mundane into the surreal. Nothing was too plain or ordinary for his eye, since he had a special ability to breathe life into even the most unremarkable subjects. .Edward Clay. André Kertész: between poetry and geometry, on The Independent Photographer website, May 19th 2020 [Online] Cited 26/08/2020André Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #34 1933Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #401933Gelatin silver printInstallation views of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing photographs from the series Distortions, the bottom image showing at left, the photograph Underwater swimmer, Esztergom 1918Photos: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Planches originales de la maquette du livre Distortions (installation view)Original plates of the model of the book Distortions  1975-76Collection Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoinePhotos: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing photographs from the series DistortionsPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #60 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #86 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #86 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #109 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #6 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #159 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #128 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #70 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #70 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion #80 (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Distortion (installation view)1933Contact originalPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Portrait déformé (Visage de femme), Paris (installation view)Distorted Portrait (Face of a Woman), Paris1927Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanOne of the twentieth century s great photographers, André Kertész (Budapest, 1894 New York, 1985) left a prolific body of work spanning more than seventy years (1912-1984), a blend of the poetic and the intimate with its wellspring in his Hungarian culture. The Art of Poise: André Kertész traces this singular career, showcasing compositions that bear the stamp of Europe’s avant-garde art movements, from the artist’s earliest Hungarian photographs to the blossoming of his talent in France, and from his New York years to ultimate international recognition.Kertész arrived in Paris in October 1925. Moving in avant-garde literary and artistic circles, he photographed his Hungarian friends, artists’ studios, street life and the city’s parks and gardens. In 1933 he embarked on his famous Distortions series of nudes deformed by funhouse mirrors, producing anamorphic images similar in spirit to the work of Pablo Picasso, Jean Arp and Henry Moore.In addition to this profusion of activity, he explored the possibility of disseminating his work in publications. Between 1933 and the end of his life he had designed and published a total of nineteen books.In 1936 Kertész and his wife Elizabeth left for New York, where he began with a brief assignment for Keystone, the world s biggest photographic agency. He struggled, though, to carve out a place for himself in a context whose demands were very different from those of his Paris years.Inspired by the rediscovery of his Hungarian and French negatives, from 1963 onwards he devoted himself solely to personal projects, and was offered retrospectives by the French National Library in Paris and MoMA in New York. This fresh recognition sparked a flurry of books in which he harked back to the high points of his oeuvre. In his last years, armed with a Polaroid, he returned to his earlier practice of everyday photography.Text from the Jeu de Paume website for the earlier exhibition The Art of Poise: André KertészText from the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de ToursAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)La Tulipe mélancolique, New YorkMelancholic Tulip, New York1939Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Paris (installation view)1984Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Paris1984Gelatin silver printInstallation views of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing at top left, Ballet, New York 1938; and at bottom left, Lake Placid 1954Photos: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Ballet, New York (installation view)1938Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Ballet, New York1938Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Lake Placid (installation view)1954Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1937Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1939Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York1939Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1954Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Escalier, rampe, ombres et femme, New York (installation view)Staircase, banister, shadows and woman, New York1951Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Escalier, rampe, ombres et femme, New York (installation view)Staircase, banister, shadows and woman, New York1951Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985) Buy , Long Island1963Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)6th Avenue, New York1973Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Nuage égaréLost cloud1937Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Nuage égaréLost cloud1937Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Poughkeepsie, New York (installation view)1937Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Poughkeepsie, New York1937Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Of New York… (installation view)New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1951Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Of New York… (installation view)New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985) Buy , New York (installation view)1966Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Of New York… (installation view)New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Double page de la maquette originale du livre Of New York (installation view)Double page of the original model of the book Of New York 1975-76Photo: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing at second left, New York 1939; and at third left, New York 1936Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1939Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1936Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York1936Gelatin silver printInstallation view of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing at second right, Arm and Fan, New York 1937Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Bras et ventilateur, New York (installation view)Arm and Fan, New York1937Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Bras et ventilateur, New YorkArm and Fan, New York1937Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Of New York… (installation view)New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1947Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Le retour au port, New York (installation view)Return to port, New York1944Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation view of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing at left, Disappearance, New York 1955Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)La Disparition, New York (installation view)Disappearance, New York1955Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)La Disparition, New York (installation view)Disappearance, New York1955Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Disappearance, New York1955Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)New York (installation view)1969Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanText from the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de ToursInstallation views of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing at left in the bottom image, Broken Bench, New York 1962Photos: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Le Banc cassé, New YorkBroken Bench, New York1962Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Of New York… (installation view)New York, Alfred A. Knopf, 1976Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Soixante ans de photographie (installation view)Sixty years of photography1912-1972Paris, éditions du Chêne, 1972Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Jour pluvieux, Tokyo (installation view)Rainy day, Tokyo1968Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)McDougall Alley, New York (installation view)1965Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Washington Square, New York1954Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Washington Square, New York (installation view)1954Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Washington Square, New York1954Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Jardin d hiver, New York (installation view)Winter Garden, New York1970Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Martinique1972Gelatin silver printAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Soixante ans de photographie (installation view)Sixty years of photography1912-1972Paris, éditions du Chêne, 1972Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Dans la cave, Williamsburg (installation view)In the cellar, Williamsburg1951Gelatin silver printPhoto: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Nara, Japan1968Gelatin silver printText from the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de ToursHarold RileyAndré Kertész (installation view)Manchester, The Manchester Collection, 1984Collection Médiathèque de l’architecture et du patrimoinePhoto: Marcus BunyanInstallation views of the exhibition L equilibriste, André Kertész at Jeu de Paume, Château de Tours showing his late Polaroid workPhotos: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)12 December 1979 (installation view)1979Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Untitled (installation view)1979-1981Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)June 1979 (installation view)1979Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)21 June 1979 (installation view)1979Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Untitled (installation view)1979-1981Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)13 August 1979 (installation view)1979Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019Photo: Marcus BunyanAndré Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)July 3, 1979
1979Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019André Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)Untitled1979-1981Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Inkjet print from a reproduction of a polaroid, 2019André Kertész (Hungarian, 1894-1985)13 August1983Tirage jet d encre d après la reproduction d un polaroid, 2019Jeu de Paume at the Château de Tours25 avenue André Malraux, 37000 ToursPhone: 02 47 70 88 46Opening hours:Tuesday Sunday 2pm 6pmClosed on MondayJeu de Paume at the Château de Tours websiteLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topLawson (American)Spinning Days (Mrs. Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard of Hiram, Maine)Nd, presented 1927Tipped in silver gelatin printImage: 22.5 x 17cmThese special images are a bit of a mystery. I purchased them as a lot from an op shop (charity shop) here in Melbourne, Australia.How such quintessential, historic American photographs come to be in Australia is beyond me.With their links to the American Revolution, Brigadier General Peleg Wadsworth of the Revolution, Wadsworth Hall, Wadsworth-Longfellow house, General Peleg Wadsworth Jr., and the daughters and granddaughters of the Republic, they could turn out to be very important images.After research I can find no birth and death dates for George Wadsworth Davis, and no information on the photographers Lawson or Huntings Studio, North Conway N.H. I believe the photograph Spinning Days to be earlier than the text on the back of the photograph which is dated Dec. 26th 1927, mainly because Brigadier General Peleg Wadsworth died in 1829, and taking 30 years per generation, the photograph of the granddaughter would place the image c. 1890-1900 (her dates are 1830-1908). The type of frame and the silver, patterned paper on the rear of the frame would support this supposition. I also believe that the beautiful photograph Moat Mt and Saco River, North Conway N.H. dates to the late nineteenth or early twentieth century due to the nature of its original frame. This looks to be a platinum palladium print as well.The poem by the son George Wadsworth Davis about his mother Francis Wadsworth Davis is just delightful: his feelings for his ageing mother captured in a picture of her – tender, romantic, loving.If anyone has more information on these images, please email me at bunyanth@netspace.net.au. Thank you!Dr Marcus Bunyan.Please click on the photographs for a larger version of the image.Lawson (American)Spinning Days (Mrs. Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard of Hiram, Maine)Nd, presented 1927Tipped in silver gelatin printImage: 22.5 x 17cmThe subject of this picture was Mrs. Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard of Hiram, Maine – the granddaughter of Brigadier General Peleg Wadsworth of the Revolution and daughter of General Peleg Wadsworth of the ? Militia.Mrs Hubbard posed for this picture – in the hall of the Wadsworth Home – to please our artist-friend who was with the family for the summer.The braided rug on the floor was made by her mother many years before the picture was painted.The spinning wheel is one hundred and twenty five years old, and always in the Wadsworth family.Presented by her mother – Mrs Francis(?) W. Davis – W her daughter – Mrs. D. Davis SkinnerDec. 26th 1927.Text from the verso of the framed photographLawson (American)Spinning Days (Mrs. Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard of Hiram, Maine) (verso detail)Nd, presented 1927Tipped in silver gelatin printLawson (American)Spinning Days (Mrs. Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard of Hiram, Maine) (details)Nd, presented 1927Tipped in silver gelatin printLawson (American)Spinning Days (Mrs. Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard of Hiram, Maine) (verso)Nd, presented 1927Tipped in silver gelatin printLawson (American)Spinning Days (Mrs. Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard of Hiram, Maine) (verso details)Nd, presented 1927Tipped in silver gelatin printLUSANNAH W. HUBBARD (Osgood) (American, b. March 28, 1830 died April 14, 1908)Many will learn with deep regret the death at Hiram, Me., of Mrs Lusannah Wadsworth Hubbard on Wednesday, April 15, at the old Wadsworth homestead where she has made it her home since 1867. She was 78 years of age or nearly so. Many who have partake of her hospitality at Wadsworth hall will remember her with much pleasure. She had all the graces of her gently blood and was one who had the esteem and respect of all who knew her. She was a woman among women.Mrs. Hubbard was the daughter of Gen. Peleg Jr., [1793-1875] and Lusannah (Wadsworth) Wadsworth [1797-1879] [Mrs. Hubbard died 1908 ? of Francis Wadsworth – Rounds(?) mother of Francis Wadsworth Davis, mother of Dora Davis Skinner(?)] and their home was that in which she died. Her father and mother were cousins. The mother was the daughter of ?ura and Lydia (Bradford) Wadsworth of Hiram. Her father was the youngest of the 11 children of Peleg Wadsworth, who built the Wadsworth-Longfellow house and where he was born in 1792. He also had 11 children. Mrs Hubbard s grandfather, Gen. Peleg Wadsworth [1748-1829], was one of the most prominent men in the State in his time. He was a major general in the Revolution, member of Congress 14 years and the founder of the town of Hiram, with all that implies. He built the house at Hiram in 1800 and moved there six years later. Many with recall the enjoyable centennial celebration at Wadsworth hall in 1900, when Mrs. Hubbard was the hostess, assisted by her sister, Mrs. Louisa Rounds of Minneapolis. The father was a major general in the militia and a very prominent citizen in his time. Mrs. Hubbard was a descendant of eleven Mayflower Pilgrims and a cousin of Henry W. Longfellow [1807-1882]. Lieut. Henry Wadsworth, who as on the Constitution and perished at Tripoli in 1804, and Commodore Alexander Scammel Wadsworth [1790-1851], who was a mid-shipman at Tripoli, with his brother and a lieutenant with Hull, when he fought the Guerriere in 1812 with the Constitution, were he uncles. She was a Wadsworth of the Wadsworths.Mrs. Hubbard married in 1849 J. E. Osgood and in 1853 John P. Hubbard. She survived Mr. Hubbard. They had children and with her during the later years has been her daughter, Mrs. J. B. Pike, and her children. She was buried with her kindred at Hiram on Friday afternoon.Mrs. Hubbard was proud of her ancestry and she had sufficient reasons for it. She was much interested in the preservation of the birthplace of her father, built by her grandfather in 1783 and 1786, now the precious possession of Portland, the Wadsworth-Longfellow house. She was a generous contributor of family relics to the collection and visited the house every season. Her gratitude to the people of Portland for what they have done for the old house seemed without limit and she often referred to the world of the ladies. The Elizabeth Wadsworth chapter, D. A. R., was named for her grandmother. The epitaph of this grandmother could well be hers:“A woman of eminent piety.Blessed are the deadWho died in the Lord.”N.G..Text from the verso of the framed photograph, no attribution or source.George Wadsworth Davis (American)Francis Wadsworth Davis, Hiram, MaineNdToned silver gelatin print(?)Image: 36 x 25.7cmFrancis Wadsworth Davis (1852-1940), Photo taken by her son George Wadsworth Davis in Hiram, Maine.George Wadsworth Davis (American)Francis Wadsworth Davis, Hiram, Maine (detail)NdToned silver gelatin print(?)Image: 36 x 25.7cmGeorge Wadsworth Davis (American)Francis Wadsworth Davis [1852-1940], Hiram, Maine (verso)NdToned silver gelatin print(?)Image: 36 x 25.7cmTho her hair is streaked with silverand she has stouter grownI fair would fancy her thoughtshave backward turnedin the flight of timeTo tho days of forty years ago,when her dark-haired southern lovecame up the winding road.And today her son comes up the shaded pathwayAnd sees his mother here at the bar, standingWith the wistful eyes, the tender smileof girlhood days.As the sun sends its level rays around thefragrant earth to light her silvered hairwith the golden sheen of youth againIt is this view of motherTaken as I saw it that afternoonthat I have tried to picture here.GHD.Text from the verso of the framed photographGeorge Wadsworth Davis (American)Francis Wadsworth Davis [1852-1940], Hiram, Maine (verso detail)NdToned silver gelatin print(?)Image: 36 x 25.7cmGeorge Wadsworth Davis (American)Francis Wadsworth Davis [1852-1940], Hiram, Maine (verso detail)NdToned silver gelatin print(?)Image: 36 x 25.7cmFrancis Wadsworth Rounds Davis (American, 1852-1940)Born Peoria, Peoria, Illinois, United States June 24, 1852Died Bridgton, Cumberland, Maine, United States November 23, 1940 aged 88)George Wadsworth Davis (b. 1870?)Frances Wadsworth Rounds Davis and the Wadsworth memorialWadsworth CemeteryHiram, Oxford County, Maine, USAFrom Huntings Studio, North Conway N.H.Moat Mt and Saco River, North Conway N.H.NdPlatinum palladium print(?)Image: 27.5 x 36cmPhotograph in it s original 1890-1920 frame.From Huntings Studio, North Conway N.H.Moat Mt and Saco River, North Conway N.H.NdPlatinum palladium print(?)Image: 27.5 x 36cmFrom Huntings Studio, North Conway N.H.Moat Mt and Saco River, North Conway N.H. (verso)NdPlatinum palladium print(?)Image: 27.5 x 36cmFrom Hunting s Studio, North Conway N.H.Moat Mt and Saco River, North Conway N.H. (verso detail)NdPlatinum palladium print(?)Image: 27.5 x 36cmLabelFrom Hunting s StudioNorth Conway N.H.Moat Mt and Saco RiverNorth Conway N.H.I cannot find any information about this photographic studio online.W. WoodsNorth Moat Mountain, looking southwest from Intervale. Cathedral Ledge cliff is in right middle ground2006CC BY-SA 3.0North Moat MountainNorth Moat Mountain is a mountain located in Carroll County, New Hampshire. North Moat is flanked to the south by Middle Moat Mountain, and to the west by Big Attitash Mountain.North Moat Mountain stands within the watershed of the upper Saco River, which drains into the Gulf of Maine at Saco, Maine. The northwest side of North Moat Mtn. drains into Lucy Brook, thence into the Saco River. The east side of North Moat drains into Moat Brook, thence into the Saco. The southwest side of North Moat drains into Deer Brook, thence into the Swift River, a tributary of the Saco.Text from the Wikipedia websiteKen GallagerThe Saco River in Conway, New Hampshire2006Public domainSaco RiverThe Saco River is a river in northeastern New Hampshire and southwestern Maine in the United States. It drains a rural area of 1,703 square miles (4,410 km2) of forests and farmlands west and southwest of Portland, emptying into the Atlantic Ocean at Saco Bay, 136 miles (219 km) from its source. It supplies drinking water to roughly 250,000 people in thirty-five towns; and historically provided transportation and water power encouraging development of the cities of Biddeford and Saco and the towns of Fryeburg and Hiram. The name Saco comes from the Eastern Abenaki word [sɑkohki], meaning land where the river comes out . The Jesuit Relations, ethnographic documents from the 17th century, refer to the river as Chouacoet.Text from the Wikipedia websiteNorth Moat Mountain map showing Portland and BostonMap of Hiram, Maine showing North Moat Mountain and Saco RiverWadsworth Hall, Hiram, MaineCC BY-SA 3.0Wadsworth HallWadsworth Hall, also known as the Peleg Wadsworth House, is a historic house at the end of Douglas Road in Hiram, Maine, United States. A massive structure for a rural setting, it was built for General Peleg Wadsworth between 1800 and 1807 on a large tract of land granted to him for his service in the American Revolutionary War. Wadsworth was the leading citizen of Hiram, and important town meetings took place at the house. He was also the grandfather of poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow, who visited the estate as a youth. The house remains in the hands of Wadsworth descendants. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.The main block of the house is a rectangular 2-1/2 story wood frame structure set on a massive granite foundation, with a gabled roof. Its main facade is seven bays wide, notably larger than the five more typically found in rural settings. The main entrance is centred on this face, sheltered by a 19th-century portico. A pair of small windows are above the doorway, with larger paired windows on either side on the second level. The left side of the house has three windows on each of three levels, and a doorway leading to the cellar. The right side has two windows on each of three levels. A two-story ell extends to the rear of the house, with a later two-story addition extending it further. There are a number of farm-related outbuildings, including 19th-century barns, behind the house.The interior of the house is rustic and relatively simple. Its main feature on the first floor is a large chamber with a high ceiling, which was used by General Wadsworth for public meetings. The house is finished in plain pine boards, with modest Federal styling.General Wadsworth s primary residence, now known as the Wadsworth-Longfellow House and a National Historic Landmark, is located on Congress Street in Portland, and was built in 1785-86. Wadsworth was granted 7,800 acres (3,200 ha) by the state in 1790 for his war service; this property extended from the Ossipee River to the Saco River in what is now the town of Hiram. The house was built between 1800 and 1807 by Stephen Jewett, a carpenter, and Theophilus Smith, a mason, both of whom were from nearby Cornish. After its completion, Wadsworth gave his Portland home to his daughter Zilpah and her husband Stephen Longfellow, parents of the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow. Longfellow is known to have frequently summered at his grandfather s estate as a child.Wadsworth, in his role as a leading citizen in Hiram, opened his house for meetings and town functions, and even used the large hall for militia drills during bad weather. The house and surviving property retain a rural setting, accessed via a narrow dirt road.Text from the Wikipedia websiteLIKE ART BLART ON FACEBOOKBack to topDr Marcus BunyanDr Marcus Bunyan is an Australian artist and writer. His art work explores the boundaries of identity and place. He writes Art Blart, a photographic archive and form of cultural memory, which posts mainly photography exhibitions from around the world. He holds a Dr of Philosophy from RMIT University, Melbourne, a Master of Arts (Fine Art Photography) from RMIT University, and a Master of Art Curatorship from the University of Melbourne.Contact bunyanth@netspace.net.au ARCHIVE OF ALL AUSTRALIAN ARTISTS AND EXHIBITIONS THAT HAVE APPEARED ON THE BLOG AT THIS LINK ARCHIVE OF ALL INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS AND EXHIBITIONS THAT HAVE APPEARED ON THE BLOG AT THIS LINK Marcus Bunyan black and white archive: Dogs, chickens, cattle 1994-95 Marcus Bunyan black and white archive: 'Dogs, chickens, cattle' 1994-95 Art Blart RSS feedRSS - PostsArt Blart Email Subscription If you would like to unsubscribe from the email list please email me at bunyanth@netspace.net.au and I will remove you asap. Thank you. Join 2,689 other followers Email Address: Privacy Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use. To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy

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