My family and I visited Balboa Park in San Diego yesterday. The park was full of brides, but none so stunning and beautiful as this young lady. She walked past me as we lounged in the shade near the arboretum. I love the contrast between her veil and the clouds, it is beautiful.
We made the trip for a change of scenery and so that I could take in the Museum of Photographic Arts. They had three exhibits:
Picturing the process: The Photograph as Witness
The fourth in a series of educational based exhibitions presented by the Education Department at MoPA, the exhibition explores the variety of ways that photographers and photographs document people, places and events throughout history
I realized after entering the exhibit that I had viewed most of the images in other museums. That is not to say that is was boring. Quite the opposite really, the works are important and visually arresting. I enjoyed the visit. however, it was much too small.
Ansel Adams: A Life’s work
The exhibition includes over 80 photographs by the 20th Century master, and celebrates Adams as an artist and conservationist.
A Life's Work features an overview of Adam's work from his early years in Sierra Nevada and Yosemite Valley, to his work in the Japanese Internment Camp at Manzanar, as well as his well-known masterpieces.
By now, I’ve seen most everything that Ansel Adams has produced. It does not stop me from wanting to see them again. His pictures are amazing. The beauty, the composition, the detail, I can only dream of producing something like it.
The highlight of the show was Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico, in three printings shown side by side. I was able to to see how hard it was for Adams to produce an image that I love.
Jo Whaley: Theater of Insects
Including approximately 40 photographs, along with a selection of insect cases and glassed archaeology trays, Theater of Insects seamlessly connects art with science. The photographs show mesmerizing scenes with vibrantly colored insects, artfully placed against weathered, manmade backgrounds. The result is a compelling marriage of natural and artificial, science and art.
This is where the art critic in me comes to the front. I hated (is that too strong a word?) this exhibit. From the very first image I kept asking myself, what the hell? I moved from piece to piece, I kept objecting to the composition, the imagery, and the artificial looking coloration. What can I say? Sometimes I see things that I just don’t like. However, this is the exhibit my wife enjoyed. Go figure.
The other show
I overheard a comment about a Richard Avedon show at the San Diego Museum of Art. Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power turned out to be the highlight of our trip. Or I should say, the highlight of my trip. The wife and son took a pass in favor of soaking up some of the California sun. That’s ok. I prefer to visit museums on my own.
Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power traces Avedon’s interest in and fascination with American politics through 200 portraits created from the 1950s until the photographer’s death in 2004. Organized by the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., with the cooperation of the Richard Avedon Foundation, New York, and the Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, Richard Avedon: Portraits of Power contains many rarely seen photographs drawn from the collection of the Richard Avedon Foundation, including works that have never before been exhibited or published.
When people are grouped together arguing in a museum, my interest is piqued. When several people are arguing, a few are crying, and some are holding each other while sharing tender moments, well… I’m way beyond piqued. I want to connect. I want to experience the rush. I want to see why people care. And I did.
The Avedon show is interesting, important, and I must say, humbling. I don’t know much about Avedon. I admit a certain deliberate ignorance. I wrote him off as a celebrity photographer because of images like this, and did not pay attention to his other work. It was my loss, the man is brilliant.
It started with a man and a women arguing over this image of The Duke and Duchess of Windsor. The portrait is perfect. I would look at it for 30 seconds if left to my own, but there were two people visibly agitated by the image, so I stayed much longer. The man and woman were arguing about the subtle messages in the picture, like importance of their posture, the style of hair, makeup, and choice of clothing. It was obvious they were academics, since they were using terms only a professor would use. I stepped around them to see who the people in the photograph were. I scanned the plague for a name only to be interrupted by a stern, “Do you mind?” from the academics. I excused myself and stepped aside (I was not in their line of site), but continued to listen. They were way too into this photo. More than I was, that is for sure. But the story does not end with this couple. It was repeated over and over again in front of other photos. People care about Avedon’s images. His simple portraits are powerful and moving. By the end, I cared too.
