THE MASLOW STUDY GALLERY FOR CONTEMPORARY ART

@ MARYWOOD UNIVERSITY

Photography: Vintage to Contemporary

October 22 - November 18, 2010

Both Marywood University and the University of Scranton are offering courses in the history of photography this semester and the professors teaching these courses requested an exhibition of photographic works from The Maslow Collection that would provide a relevant historical overview for their students. Students will be required to complete research projects related to the artists and works in the exhibition. Note, in 2008 we presented a similar exhibition for the History of Photography students from both universities.
This exhibition of photographic works covers a period from the 1930s to the 1980s. (with earlier tintypes and carte de visites in the cases). Vintage prints from the 1930s to the 1960s include iconic works by Bernice Abbott, Wright Morris, and Evelyn Hofer. The gelatin silver prints by Lee Friedlander, Mark Cohen, Hilla and Bernd Becher, and Kenneth Snelson represent a changing attitude to subject matter in the 1970s. The 1980s color photographs, mostly done in the studio, are by Barbara Kasten, Sandy Skoglund, Robert Cumming, William Wegman, David Haxton, and Herwig Kempinger. The later works are more experimental in terms of process, materials and subject matter. One black and white image from this period by Hamish Fulton also opens up a dialogue on the relationship of the photographic image as "record" (or documentation) to the action of the artist, in this case a walk, which is the subject of his work.

Two additional works presented in the cases are from the Curator's collection. Eleanor Antin's "100 Boots" addresses the possible use of photography in a narrative project using mailed postcards over a period of nearly three years. The image by Alfredo Jaar from his Rwanda Project is contained in a black box and is not to be seen by the viewer (only the descriptive text on the box indicates the content of the image). In this manner of presentation Jaar questions the ability of the documentary image to confront us with an adequate representation of genocide and death, such as in Rwanda.

 

Bernice Abbott, The Automat, [1936], black and white photograph

Hilla and Bernd Becher, Winding Towers, 1974 -1988, nine gelatin silver prints
Mark Cohen, Twisting, 1976, gelatin silver print

Robert Cumming, Red Perceives Only a Bulb in the Outline, 1979, large format Polaroid
Lee Friedlander, Father Duffy, Times Square, New York City, 1974, gelatin silver print
Hamish Fulton, The Skylark and the Frog, 1986
David Haxton, untitled (266), 1983, Ektachrome

Evelyn Hofer, Haughwout Building, New York, c.1960, black and white photograph

Barbara Kasten, Construct NYC-8, 1983, Cibachrome print
Herwig Kempinger, untitled, 1989, C-print

Wright Morris, Drawer with Silverware, 1947, black and white photograph
Sandy Skoglund, The Laws of Interior Design, 1986, dye transfer print

Kenneth Snelson, Wall Street, 1980, silver contact print
William Wegman, Tripod, 1989, color photograph  

 

Also in cases:

Eleanor Antin, 100 Boots, 1971-3, 8 mailed black and white postcards from a series of 51 images

Alfredo Jaar, Katale Refugee Camp 50 kilometers north of Goma, Zaire, Wednesday August 31, 1994, color photograph (not to be visible) in a black box with text

[Click on image to enlarge.]