Lewis Baltz

Mark Minard · May 2, 2017

Wanted to share what I found to be a brief yet insightful essay on the late Lewis Baltz.
http://davidcampany.com/fast-worlds-slow-photography/

Mark Minard · Jul 8, 2017

michael_r said:
I'm fond of Lewis Baltz's work, and New Topographics in general. Thanks for posting this.

You're welcome. If you're a fan then you've probably already read this, but in case you haven't seen the "last interview" here it is:

Dead Link Removed

Mark Minard · Feb 17, 2018

It seems the "last interview" I posted above is now behind a paywall.

Here is another excellent read; Lewis goes into some detail regarding his materials and processes which I found enlightening.

https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-lewis-baltz-15758#transcript

Bill Burk · Feb 17, 2018

Thanks for sending this our way...

I think I have a new "favorite" writer to follow...

ic-racer · Feb 17, 2018

Thanks for the link. I downloaded the PDF to my photography library.

Mark Minard · Feb 17, 2018

Bill Burk said:
Thanks for sending this our way...

I think I have a new "favorite" writer to follow...

You're welcome! Baltz is an interesting guy.

Mark Minard · Feb 17, 2018

ic-racer said:
Thanks for the link. I downloaded the PDF to my photography library.

You're welcome. Definetly worth saving.

chip j · Feb 18, 2018

Mark Minard said:
It seems the "last interview" I posted above is now behind a paywall.

Here is another excellent read; Lewis goes into some detail regarding his materials and processes which I found enlightening.

https://www.aaa.si.edu/collections/interviews/oral-history-interview-lewis-baltz-15758#transcript

What a great interview! We need more posts like this.

gr82bart · Feb 20, 2018

Thanks for the post
Inspired me to learn more about him
Some more links I went to:
https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/lewis-baltz?all/all/all/all/0

http://www.americansuburbx.com/artists/lewis-baltz

https://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/11/...rapher-of-american-landscapes-dies-at-69.html

http://www.bjp-online.com/2014/11/lewis-baltz-tribute-gerry-badger/

https://www.metalocus.es/en/news/beauty-desolation-and-destruction-work-lewis-baltz-photographer

http://seeingscience.umbc.edu/2016/08/lewis-baltz-1945-2014/

Regards, Art

Mark Minard · Feb 20, 2018

Thanks Art, you found a couple I missed.

I'll also add the link to his collection at the George Eastman House:
http://collections.eastman.org/people/4168/lewis-baltz/objects

sepiareverb · Feb 21, 2018

Thanks for these links. He has long been a favorite of mine.

Mark Minard · Jul 7, 2021

More Baltz:

Lewis Baltz | TateShots - YouTube

Alan Edward Klein · Jul 8, 2021

If you like the banal, commonplace photography of William Eggleston, you'll like Baltz. He wasn't into aesthetic photography for the sake of beauty. Not my taste.

Raghu Kuvempunagar · Jul 8, 2021

Alan Edward Klein said:
If you like the banal, commonplace photography of William Eggleston, you'll like Baltz. He wasn't into aesthetic photography for the sake of beauty. Not my taste.

"Unfortunately, my life very rarely involved going to Yosemite [National Park, CA]. My life was about going to shopping centers, being in a town, an urban situation, which seemed to me was also a landscape but one that no one had any interest in looking at. But I was interested in looking at it." -- Lewis Baltz

reddesert · Jul 10, 2021

Mark Minard said:
More Baltz:

Lewis Baltz | TateShots - YouTube

Nice video. In it Baltz makes the interesting point that photography is a reductive art - it needs to simplify the view to reduce it to the interesting subject parts - as opposed to nearly all the other arts that begin with the equivalent of a blank canvas and add things to it. I am sure that people could dig up minor counterexamples, but it's a useful point.

Although Baltz and William Eggleston both have photographed things that seemed everyday to the point of (sometimes) escaping notice, I don't think their photographs or their practice (or subject matter) really resemble each other at all.

tomkatf · Jul 10, 2021

Nicknamed "Duke" according to a classmate that knew him c.1972...

Algo después · Jul 10, 2021

I had never paid attention to Baltz's work and what I have seen has enchanted me. It is recognized that he had a very minimalist sensibility (type Rothko, Reinhardt, etc.). In that sense, he seems closer to Hiroshi Sugimoto or Uta Barth (or even filmakers as James Benning* ) than Eggleston.

Thanks for sharing.

*p.d.... some of his pics reminds me this movie: One Way Boogie Woogie

Pieter12 · Jul 10, 2021

reddesert said:
as opposed to nearly all the other arts that begin with the equivalent of a blank canvas and add things to it.

Well, a photographer putting together a still life inside would usually start with a blank surface and add to it--even adding light as needed. On the other hand a sculptor might start with a block of stone or wood and remove parts of it to achieve the end result.

Mark Minard · Apr 15, 2022

More Baltz:

A show at Corcoran Gallery of Art entitled "The Nation's Capital in Photographs, 1976"

Description from the Gallery Luisotti webpage (https://galleryluisotti.com/news/robert-cumming-lewis-baltz-at-the-corcoran-gallery-of-art/):
"In 1976 Robert Cumming and Lewis Baltz were included in “The Nation’s Capital in Photographs”, an unprecedented Bicentennial project originated by The Corcoran Gallery of Art. Eight eminent American photographers were invited to spend extended periods–at least a month–in Washington, D.C during 1975-76 to photograph the city, its environs and people, each was guided by their own vision."

I found the essay by curator Jane Livingston a worthwhile read. Exhibition catalog with essay and photographs here:

https://galleryluisotti-d420.kxcdn.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2022/03/CorcoanGalleryofArt-Maryland.pdf

Enjoy!

Lewis Baltz

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