Impressionist to Modernist Masterworks of Early Photography

[Rick A]

An exhibition running until April 19 at The Frick, Pittsburgh, Pa.
I spent the weekend in Pittsburgh with Karen, and what to do? Spotted an ad for The Frick, an easy to find art museum in Frick Park at 7227 Reynolds Street. Incredible images from the masters dating from late 1880's to very early 1900's. Bromoils, cyanotypes, platinum and palladium prints, carbon transfers, even gelatin silver prints, impressive works to say the least. The works of Stieglitz, Kasebier, Kuhn, Clarence White, and their contemporaries.
If you find your self near by with nothing to do, this is a must see exhibition. Original prints as displayed by the photographer, all over one hundred years old, and still in full stunning glory. I am once again recharged, and inspired to continue shooting and printing.
Of course, immediately upon leaving the Frick, Karen and I drove through some of the nearby steel mill towns armed with a P&S Olympus loaded with Ilford Delta 100, the only camera I felt like lugging for the weekend. I can't wait to see the results.

 

[Randalcav]

Rick, I just read about this show in the Pittsburgh Tribune on Sunday. I am definitely going to check this out after reading your review. You just gave me a great reason to take an afternoon off work and take it all in. I love Stieglitz and his effort to make photography relevant. I can't wait to look at these images and recharge myself. I love everything about that era of photography. I own a mechanically functioning Kodak No. 4 Cartridge camera from 1899, but I've yet to try and shoot an image with it. Photography can get routine sometimes and then you see a gallery show or watch a documentary, read a book or a post and you realize again why you love it. I hope you captured some nice images with your Olympus in the mill towns. I have a well used OM2 that got me through school and I think its time to restore it as well. Not to ramble, but I know the feeling of your excitement and the push we all need sometimes.

 

[Mustafa Umut Sarac]

om2 and steiglitz , good match for a dog.

 

[Randalcav]

Steiglitz only managed to produce 3 different photo magazines along with a world renowned gallery that promoted many of photography's most famous masters. He tirelessly championed photography as a fine art until it was finally recognized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not only a promoter but an accomplished photographer in his own right. Are you comparing him to an Alaskan sled dog, carrying on its back, an entire group of photographers, artists and the entire future of fine art photography into the 20th Century?

The Olympus OM2 camera was the quietest and lightest 35mm camera with the most advanced off the film metering system of its time. It paved the way for AE cameras. Olympus wasn't trying to produce clones of the Nikon's or Canon's of that time, they were similar to Steiglitz, trying to push the technological future of photography in a positive direction.

By the way....I did go to the Frick museum today and see first hand the awesome images that were produced at the hand of these great photographic artists of 1880-1930. It's one thing to see images in books, but like Rick A, I too was blown away and inspired. I especially like the gum bichromate prints. The experience in Pittsburgh was well worth the trip. Masters, that about sums it up.

 

[Rick A]

Steiglitz only managed to produce 3 different photo magazines along with a world renowned gallery that promoted many of photography's most famous masters. He tirelessly championed photography as a fine art until it was finally recognized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Not only a promoter but an accomplished photographer in his own right. Are you comparing him to an Alaskan sled dog, carrying on its back, an entire group of photographers, artists and the entire future of fine art photography into the 20th Century?

The Olympus OM2 camera was the quietest and lightest 35mm camera with the most advanced off the film metering system of its time. It paved the way for AE cameras. Olympus wasn't trying to produce clones of the Nikon's or Canon's of that time, they were similar to Steiglitz, trying to push the technological future of photography in a positive direction.

By the way....I did go to the Frick museum today and see first hand the awesome images that were produced at the hand of these great photographic artists of 1880-1930. It's one thing to see images in books, but like Rick A, I too was blown away and inspired. I especially like the gum bichromate prints. The experience in Pittsburgh was well worth the trip. Masters, that about sums it up.

And you can't beat the price.