Boxer’s Hands, 1933 © Willard Van Dyke

Exhibition on view:
June 16–September 30, 2012

Monterey Museum of Art
559 Pacific Street
Monterey, CA
(831) 372-5477

Group f/64 was a pioneer photography crew of seven residing in northern California. They abandoned the soft-focus, pictorial style of photography popularized in the early twentieth century and instead promoted “straight” photography, communicating by means of realism, high contrast, and extreme detail. Monterey Museum of Art presents In Sharp Focus: The Legacy of Monterey Photography, which examines Group f/64 and their successors. Legendary artists Ansel Adams, Imogen Cunningham, Alma Lavenson, Willard Van Dyke, and Edward Weston are included in the exhibition. These photographers transformed American photography by relinquishing interpretive manipulation by progressing towards pure, sharp images with a maximum depth of field. Joining these legendary artists will be works by: Henry Gilpin, Rod Dresser, John Sexton, and Michael Kenna.

One of the founding members of Aperture and Group f/64 Ansel Adams is featured in Aperture issues 169 and 168. Cunningham’s work can be seen in the Aperture published, The Unseen Eye: Photographs from the Unconscious. Weston is featured in Aperture issues 188 and 140, appears in Aperture published The Edge of Vision as well as Edward Weston: Nudes.

The irony is not lost on me—as a photo-editor who has devoted many years to a medium known for stilling, or capturing, time, decisive or otherwise—that I should be equally consumed by another medium, one that defies any notion of “capture,” that I am seduced by dance’s very impermanence, especially in the case of Merce Cunningham. Cunningham’s choreography never leaves even a storyline to hang onto in its wake, but rather evinces a kind of isness, as if each dance has an ineffable essence that might somehow be touched, experienced, and that remains vital and resonant long after the curtain falls, so that endings are somehow intangible.

Cunningham’s sensibility was as much about time as about space—or, better, it was about the coexistence of the two and, unlike what transpires in much photography, time is liberated from illustration in a Cunningham dance. Things don’t have to happen in any narrative sense. Time is more about duration—which is in part why John Cage, and the other composers with whom Cunningham collaborated, had such freedom. In photography, conversely, the precise moment at which a picture is created may make all the difference—from evidentiary images to sports coverage to street shots to dance photography.

Which gets me thinking about the ephemeral—an idea that rarely pertains to the photographic object. (more…)

Young Girl, 1962. © Dorothea Lange

The Summer Show

Exhibition on view:
July 7–September 3, 2011

Scott Nichols Gallery:
49 Geary Street
Fourth Floor
San Francisco, CA
(415) 788-4641

The Scott Nicholas Gallery is currently exhibiting photos from their own collection. The Summer Show features works by legendary and contemporary photographers, including many published by Aperture: Wynn Bullock, Imogen Cunningham, Dorothea Lange, Edward Weston, and (Aperture founding member) Ansel Adams. Aperture books from these photographers include Wynn Bullock: Masters of Photography and Edward Weston: Nudes. The second photogravure edition of Dorothea Lange’s Migrant Mother is available from Aperture. Many of these artists’ works can also be found in Aperture’s golden anniversary book, Photography Past/Forward: Aperture at 50.

Clouds, Death Valley, 1938 © Edward Weston

Exhibition on view:
Through April 25
Silverstein Photography
535 West 24th St.
New York, New York
(212) 627-3930

This is your last chance to see Cloud 9, a group exhibition displaying the work of renowned photographers Imogen Cunningham, Alfred Stieglitz, and Edward Weston. The exhibition is a collection of nine original, vintage photographs of the sky, seen through the lenses of these great masters.
The abstract formation and fleeting nature of clouds, which comes into play in these photographs, evokes dreamy emotions and ideas, and creates a sense of mystery.

Palmbeach³ Contemporary Art Fair, opened today at the Palm Beach County Convention Center. This four-day event features collections from over 80 national and international dealers, including Aperture, located at booth A13. The contemporary works at the fair range from museum-level artists like Robert Rauschenberg to emerging and mid-career artists, in all forms of media. Aperture’s booth reflects this milieu with photographic prints on display from artists ranging from Imogen Cunningham to buzz-worthy newcomers Edgar Martins and Michael Wolf.

Palmbeach³ Contemporary Art Fair
Thursday, January 15 –Sunday, January 18, 2009

Palm Beach County Convention Center
650 Okeechobee Boulevard
West Palm Beach, Florida
(561) 209-1308