John Gossage: The Pond at the Smithsonian American Art Museum
© John Gossage
The highly anticipated exhibition John Gossage: The Pond opens on this week at the Smithsonian American Art Museum. Gossage’s influential body of work was recently acquired by the Smithsonian and marks the first time these photographs are exhibited in a museum setting. The Pond initially was a photography book first published by Aperture in 1985, and is being reissued in September 2010 to coincide with this milestone exhibition. The new edition, co-published with the museum, consists of an essay by photo historian Gerry Badger and an introduction by Toby Jurovics.
Meant to recall Henry David Thoreau’s Walden, The Pond consists of photographs of a small, unnamed pond between Washington, D.C., and Baltimore, Maryland taken between 1981 and 1985. Gossage wanted to portray a more all-embracing view of the landscape, exploring the less idealized spaces that border America’s cities and suburbs. What he found in these sometimes unruly and mundane places were moments of grace and elegance.
John Gossage: The Pond
August 27, 2010-January 17, 2011
Smithsonian American Art Museum
2nd floor South
8th & F streets NW
Washington, D.C. 20004
(202) 633-7970
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Tags: American Art Museum, John Gossage, Smithsonian, The Pond
