Library of Congress
101 Independence Avenue SE
Washington DC   20540

September 22, 2009

Press contact:  Donna Urschel (202) 707-1639, durschel@loc.gov
Public contact:  Elizabeth Terry Rose (202) 707-8696, elte@loc.gov

Architectural Photographer Philip Trager
to Discuss His Art and Technique at Library of Congress, Oct. 8

Architecture and dance photographer Philip Trager, whose work is now on display at the National Building Museum exhibition “Form and Movement,” will discuss his art and technique in an illustrated lecture at the Library of Congress.

Trager will talk at 1 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 8, in Dining Room A on the sixth floor of the James Madison Building, 101 Independence Ave. S.E., Washington, D.C.  Free and open to the public, the event is part of “Artist Talk,” an ongoing lecture series from the Library’s Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering.  The series features prominent creators and experts in the field of the built environment.

The Library of Congress is the home of the Philip Trager Photographic Archive, an ongoing body of work which contains images, negatives, contact prints, unpublished pieces and manuscript materials.  The collection will be available sometime in the future—after cataloging—to researchers in the Library’s Prints and Photographs Division.

The “Form and Movement: Photographs by Philip Trager” exhibition at the National Building Museum, now open through Jan. 3, 2010, features images from Trager’s continuing 40-year career.  Trager’s critically lauded and sought-after photographs, both lyrical and technical in execution, capture the seemingly disparate arts of architecture and dance.

“For almost five decades, Philip Trager’s discerning and passionate practice of photography has justly caused him to be recognized as a master,” said C. Ford Peatross, founding director and curator of the Library’s Center for Architecture, Design and Engineering.  “His careful eye, his sensitivity to the slightest nuances of light and atmosphere and his finely honed understanding of structure have allowed him to capture—and us to see anew—subjects ranging from the gritty vernacular of American cities to the works of Palladio and the monuments of Paris, from the clouds framing and defining landscapes to frozen moments in the drama of the dance.”

Trager has exhibited widely and published numerous books, including the retrospective “Philip Trager (2006), “Dancers” (1992), “The Villas of Palladio” (1986) and “Photographs of Architecture” (1977).

The Library of Congress Prints and Photographs Division includes more than 14 million photographs, drawings and prints from the 15th century to the present day.  For more information, visit www.loc.gov/rr/print/.

Founded in 1800, the Library of Congress is the nation’s oldest federal cultural institution and the largest library in the world, with nearly 142 million items in various languages, disciplines and formats. As the world’s largest repository of knowledge and creativity, the Library is a symbol of democracy and the principles on which this nation was founded.  The Library serves the U.S. Congress and the nation both on-site, in its reading rooms on Capitol Hill, and through its award-winning website at www.loc.gov. 

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PR09-180
9/22/09
ISSN: 0731-3527