Timothy O'Sullivan at the AIC

[John Jarosz]

O'Sullivan's photos from the King survey are now on display at the Art Institute of Chicago. These are all albumen prints approx 8x10 in size. While I have been looking forward to this show I'm really conflicted about the manner in which this prints are displayed. Almost one half of the show is so dark it's difficult to even read the captions. The other half has the lighting distributed so that one image receives full direct light from the overhead fixture, but the one immediately adjacent receives no light at all. The net result is that although these are vintage prints I couldn't gain any insight from them because they were too difficult to see. There was no explanation for the lighting. If they are so concerned with the potential damage to the prints then they should just mount copies as displaying the originals in this manner serves no real purpose, except to enable the AIC to advertise the show and reel in customers at $18 a shot.

My advice is to purchase the catalog which has a lot of additional material, is very well printed, and you can actually see the images (and the imperfections of the originals) much better. If you happen to be at the AIC you can certainly spend a few minutes at the show, but I can't recommend a special trip.

Sorry for the rant, but this was really disappointing to me.

[Darin Boville]

Sorry about the bad lighting--all too common nowadays--but this is very exciting news nonetheless. Do you know if the show is to travel and to where?

I thought that when you mentioned an exhibition catalog you surely must have meant last year's "Framing the West" but I googled and, though I don't see it on Amazon, etc yet the catalog, from Yale, is different book. Two O'Sullivan books in two years, an embarrassment of riches!

I've spent the past week looking closely at O'Sullivan's images from the King survey so this comes at an opportune time for me, strangely fortuitous.

--Darin

[Darin Boville]

Just saw that it goes to the Nelson-Atkins next, in Kansas City, who originated the show. April 14 to August 26.

--Darin

[John Jarosz]

AIC Show link

The show was organized by the Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Mo. I did not see any mention of future travels. They could probably tell you of any other travel plans.

The catalog is special to this show. It's $60, and I cannot find it on Amazon either. But it has much information (written) on the King expeditions. It's very well produced.

[Robert Hughes]

I'm really conflicted about the manner in which this prints are displayed. Almost one half of the show is so dark it's difficult to even read the captions....

So you would rather have full-on lighting burn up the remaining image on those prints for your personal gratification? Who cares about viewers 100 years from now that might want to see the original prints.

[John Jarosz]

If the prints are so valuable that exposure to light will destroy them, won't that be true in the future as well? If that is the case, then show reproductions properly lit so that viewers can actually see the prints. The technology certainly exists to do that. The catalog is an excellent example of it. This is a show, we are not talking about academic study, so in this case show reproductions.

No one can properly appreciate the prints as they are displayed currently. So why bother? Just so you can say you saw the original print? Show repros instead, unless your credentials are sufficiently exalted so that the curators will allow you to see the prints properly lit.

At the Met show (Strand, Steiglitz and Steichen) in NYC they had original color transparencies from the turn of the century on display for the first two weeks of the show. After that they replaced the originals with copies. Did I feel cheated? No. The copies were breathtaking. But they were also properly illuminated.