Paul Caponigro Retrospective/CA

[dasBlute]

For myself, I'm always looking for something without a clue where's it's going to come from
especially when I've loaded the film holders and headed out to say, Taos or wherever with *great* expectations.

I say if you're lucky enough to find some white deer and image them with the camera...
then you're awake and working. Others get to decide whether our work will 'stand the test of time'.

Some of his work resonates with me, and I like his darkroom work alot. I never felt his
work was disingenuous, frilly, 'hey-look-at-me-I'm-making-art', it feels genuine to me -
something that 'kitsch' [though it's your word] probably wouldn't...

Is it just me or do Caponigro's photos appear more and more kitschy as time goes on? Maybe it's because he came to the rocks and trees party too late or maybe it's because he took the crazy stuff coming out of the mouth of minor white too seriously. I mean come on, running white deer? Doubtful it will stand the test of time.

[jp]

Is it just me or do Caponigro's photos appear more and more kitschy as time goes on? Maybe it's because he came to the rocks and trees party too late or maybe it's because he took the crazy stuff coming out of the mouth of minor white too seriously. I mean come on, running white deer? Doubtful it will stand the test of time.

The rocks and trees stuff is timeless. Calling that a fad is like calling freedom a fad, or nudes is a fad.

That said, I don't get excited about the running deer photo. I like the rock and trees on polaroid 55 more.

[Eric Biggerstaff]

One of my all time favorite artists, wish I could see it. He, along with Brett Weaston and William Clift, is a constant source of inspiration.

[Vaughn]

and some of us think it already has and will continue to do so….

Me, too. Actually the way I heard it, the deer were on a deer farm and herded by the farmer for the image. Still a wonderful image.

[Robert Langham]

I've actually got a copy of White Deer which I got for a song. It's loaned out currently in exchange for a Caponigro shot in a French stone church.

Funny thing about White Deer- if you ask two folks to count the deer and tell you how many they never seem to come up with the same number. I don't even come up with the same number twice in a row!

Nice print to have around the house.

[Merg Ross]

An earlier remark about "standing the test of time" caught my attention. I have been a bit ambivalent about Paul's work over the years, a natural response as his career evolved.

We first met in Boston in 1959 through a mutual friend; Paul was twenty-six and had just returned from a cross-country photo trip with Minor, and I was eighteen. We spent some time together, a day in the field, and when I headed south on my trip, he gave me a print made that year. It was of the Hartford Wall, however not the much published horizontal version; it was a vertical rendition, mystical, well composed, and beautifully printed. It has adorned the entry wall of our home for twenty-five years, and I still marvel at its subtle impact; it defines Paul Caponigro --- no need for the words and poetry; this photograph has stood the test of time, and will continue to do so.

[JMB]

I think that Paul Caponigro's early work is quiet powerful. But his son seems determined to ruin his legacy.

[frotog]

Some of his work resonates with me, and I like his darkroom work alot. I never felt his
work was disingenuous, frilly, 'hey-look-at-me-I'm-making-art', it feels genuine to me -
something that 'kitsch' [though it's your word] probably wouldn't...

Who said kitsch had to be intentional?

This following excerpt from wikipedia best describes it for me -
"Hermann Broch argues that the essence of kitsch is imitation: kitsch mimics its immediate predecessor with no regard to ethics—it aims to copy the beautiful, not the good.[3] According to Walter Benjamin, kitsch is, unlike art, a utilitarian object lacking all critical distance between object and observer; it "offers instantaneous emotional gratification without intellectual effort, without the requirement of distance, without sublimation".[4]

[Kirk Gittings]

I think that Paul Caponigro's early work is quiet powerful. But his son seems determined to ruin his legacy.

Who would judge the father's work based on the sons? That strikes me as ludicrous.

[Michael Graves]

I had the chance to see an exhibition of Caponigro's work in New Hampshire. A few of the images seemed a bit contrived, but you can say that about anybody's work. The vast majority of the images were worth second and third passes. Several of them took my breath away. If you can get there...go.