April 20–August 5, 2012
Works on Paper Gallery
Refraction and reflection involve changes in light waves, and both affect how we see an image. With light, shape is realized, textures arise and line is defined. Refraction/Reflection. Features approximately 100 black and white images dating from the beginning of photography in the 19th century up to the present time. All of the works are from the Museum’s collection.
Among the artists represented are Berenice Abbott, Ansel Adams, Eugene Atget, Imogene Cunningham, Robert Frank, Edward Steichen and Alfred Stieglitz.
Some of the works were created with light but without a camera lens. Adam Fuss created unique photograms by placing objects on sensitized paper and exposing them to direct light. His Untitled, Droplets was produced by placing a large sheet of sensitized paper in a shallow tub of water, explained Tom Loeffler, assistant curator of works on paper.
“Water drops into the tub, frozen in time by the use of a strobe light and registered on the paper as concentric rings of light. The unique photogram is chemically fixed and remains an image filled with the wonder and transient nature of light.”
The absence of light plays a crucial role in other works in the show, such as one by Springfield, Ohio native Berenice Abbott, who moved to New York City in 1918 to pursue a career as a journalist and later as a visual artist. To maximize the number of illuminated windows in her photograph in her 1934 gelatin-silver print New York at Night, she made the image on the shortest day of the year when people were still working after dark. Setting up her camera on an upper floor of the Empire State Building and using a 15-minute exposure, she created a dynamic bird’s-eye view of buildings west of the iconic skyscraper.
FREE Hands-on Activity: Silhouettes
April 27: 7–9 p.m.
Art of the Vine: Wine and Shadow
May 18: 7–9 p.m.
Four wines and light snacks. Tickets ($15 members/$25 nonmembers, plus tax) available at Information Desks.
FREE Public Tours: Refraction/Reflection
May 18: 7 & 8 p.m.
May 19 and 20: 2 p.m.
FREE Family Tour: Refraction/Reflection
May 20: 1 p.m.