The camera is the eye through which a photographic artist sees the world. When photographic work is displayed, viewers can observe the photographer's interpretation of the world.
Four photographic interpretations are shown at Utah State University's Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art in "A Portfolio Quartet: Portfolios from the Permanent Collection."Cultural images, portraits, the eclectic treasures of a collector, American life and the landscapes of Yosemite National Park are included in the exhibition on view through Jan. 9 in the museum's Upper Gallery.
Museum assistant Shayne Christiansen curated the show. In reference to the show's title, he says "a portfolio is a body of work united by artist, subject or idea."
The photographs in the portfolios he selected are strong enough to stand alone. When viewed in a series, they work together to create a better understanding of the artists and of their objectives, he feels.
Three photographers, Paul Strand, Ansel Adams and Mary Peck, created the first three portfolios. The fourth is a collection by 20 artists, assembled and curated by Victor Landweber.
Strand's work is "The Mexican Portfolio, 1940." His photographs, taken during the period of 1932-33, document the people, culture and religious imagery of Mexico.
His prints are created through the photogravure process, by which images are etched onto a metal plate and then printed with ink, very much like an etching, Christiansen said.
"At the turn of the century this was a very common way of reproducing images," Christiansen said. "With this technique there is a richness to the work and the ink saturation is beautiful."
The metal plates for this portfolio were made in 1940, and a first printing was released. The portfolio was reprinted in 1967 from the original plates under Strand's supervision.
Strand (1890-1976) was a contemporary of Alfred Stieglitz and was a pioneer of American Art Photography. His work falls into the straight photography tradition, a movement that departed from the turn-of-the-century practice of trying to mimic painting. Using photography to produce images without manipulation, Strand helped establish straight photography as an art form. His work directly influenced Ansel Adams and the straight photography tradition is a linking element among all the portfolios shown in the USU exhibit.
USU has long held a large collection of Adams' photographs, many acquired prior to the NEH museum's opening in 1982.
Museum visitors will see Adams' "Portfolio Three: Yosemite Valley, 1960." This collection turns Adams' lens to a landscape study of Yosemite National Park from 1926 to 1959. The portfolio was released by the Sierra Club in 1960.
Adams' work is well-known by the public, and photographers know his zone system, which sets very controlled ranges for tonal quality in black and white photography.
"Adams was a perfectionist and would spend hours perfecting his prints," Christiansen said. "Fifty prints might be discarded before he got one he was satisfied with."
His sharp-focused photographs shown at the museum include almost abstract images of pine needles to the more familiar mountain peaks of the California park. As Christiansen says, "we've all seen the calendar, now see the original."
Mary Peck's portfolio documents a landscape of sorts, an interior landscape exploding with the objects collected by John Meigs.
Peck, a USU graduate (BFA 1974), shot this series in 1984 at Fort Meigs, New Mexico, the home to John Meigs' amazing collection.
The Fort began as a three-room adobe structure which has now grown into a 22-room complex.
In a feature story by writer Karen Evans in "New Mexico Magazine," Meigs attempted to describe his collection: "Books, almost 40,000, on every subject imaginable . . . paintings, engravings, American graphics, oriental scrolls, and prints . . . strange and unusual furniture, New Mexico colonial, early American, European, ancient and new in all degrees of repair and disrepair. Fabrics: velvets, silks, weavings, quilts by the dozen. Glass and china, ceramics, and iron, architectural detail, stained glass. A wooden windmill, a barber pole, a piece from a circus wagon . . . endless," he said.
Peck's photographs capture the manic artistry of Meigs' collection.
The final portfolio in the USU exhibition is "American Roads, 1982." This collection is more diverse in subject matter and interpretation, since it includes works by 20 photographers, Christiansen said. The unifying factor is the subject - the American road. This is the first time the complete portfolio has been shown at USU.
"This exhibition offers four photographic perspectives from different time periods," Christiansen concluded. "The straight photography tradition is the unifying factor. I attempted to show the work of different photographers in a way that the viewer is led from one image to another. Each portfolio becomes a visual narrative, much like a book where the individual chapters create a novel."
The Nora Eccles Harrison Museum of Art is open Tuesday, Thursday and Friday, 10:30 a.m. to 4:30 p.m., Wednesday, 10:30 a.m. to 9 p.m. and weekends 2-5 p.m. The museum is closed Monday and holidays.