[very long ramble alert]
O.K. Just back from a day at the SFMOMA where they have three--count them--photography exhibits up, not counting the one room installment of the painfully named "Picturing Modernity."
A few random thoughts.
Avedon exhibit. I saw another Avedon exhibit a few weeks ago in San Diego. A little of Avedon goes a long way. Repeated viewings sort of diminish the work at first but then it sort of stabilizes. I still love the photo of the model with the elephants--my favorite fashion photo, I think--but not much else struck me. Even the kids found it repetitive.
I know many people on this board are interested in print quality so I will share this. The show was very uneven, print quality-wise. This was no Ansel Adams show. Some were very good. Some not so good. One was astonishingly bad. This was a large image of Marian Anderson.
Here is a link to remind you: http://www.metmuseum.org/toah/hd/phev/ho_61.565.2.htm
The link shows a print with slightly more shadow detail than I've seen before and more than what is typically reproduced in books, etc. The print at the show went far to the other extreme. The background, white in other versions, was a midtone. The shadows over the singer's face were extensive and deep--hard to see her mouth, for example. It had a dingy look, overall. Appeared to my eye to be a test print gone wrong and salvaged from the trash. I'm not kidding.
On to the next show. Ansel Adams and Georgia O'Keefe.
The O'Keefe works were interesting but my attention (and that of the crowd, it seems) kept getting drawn to the photos.
While the show is billed as having Adams photos--which it certainly does--it also has work by a number of other photogs: Ed Weston, Brett Weston, Paul Strand, Stieglitz.
They have a Pepper No. 30. That was a treat. Haven't seen one in a few years.
The basic premise of the show is the interaction of O'Keefe and Adams and their influences on each others work.
For some reason I had thought that Strand's photo of Rancho Taos (not in this show) predated Ansel's, but googling it seems that Ansel's is dated 1929 and Strand 1931. I know these dates are open to question--I had thought this was one of the images Ansel saw that made him decide on photography--if so then that raises an interesting question about whether seeing an image by him that was similar--better?--than Strands was a factor. But I'm digressing.
The show had many familiar Adams images, not too heavy on the iconic ones, which is good. They had one series that I was completely unaware of before this show--a three panel set entitled "Snow Sequence"--I guess sort of akin to Surf Sequence.
Lots of good stuff in this show beyond what I am (poorly) describing.
Finally, Robert Frank.
I have a confession to make. I can't recall if I ever seen "The Americans." I suspect I have in my youth--spent many days at the library pouring over photo books--but I can't specifically recall it. I've seen many of the images, again and again, over the years but maybe not the actual book, nor all of the images in sequence.
Second confession. I almost always seemed to encounter Frank's work with bozo commentary that seemed to indicate that he was not so much being critical of what he found. I found that to be b.s. and assumed the b.s. started with Frank.
I ended up having a negative view of his work. I considered him vastly overrated.
Well, that changed at the exhibit today. The show wasn't just "The Americans" but a great deal of material leading up to it plus contact sheets, grant applications, work prints, etc. A real show.
"The Americans" is presented in sequence with largish prints.
Lots of great stuff here. Critical, yes. Witty, yes. Overhyped, yes, but excellent if you approach it fresh. Do what I do and ignore all the text panels (or at least only glance at them to see if they are worth reading).
Quite a treat!
I think the exhibit of "The Americans" is better than the book. Reproduction quality is low on the book and much detail, sometimes important, gets lost.
I'm running out of stream here...
See this show...
--Darin
PS. After the Frank show there is a small room of permanent collection images. A few Walker Evans, Lee Friedlander, Garry Winograd (yuk), a forgettable image by Nan Goldin, Bill Owens...
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