December at the Center for Creative Photography
1030 North Olive Road, Tucson, Arizona, 85721 (520) 621-7968
www.creativephotography.org
From the Director
The end of the calendar year is now upon us, so the staff is intensely consumed with processing acquisitions and sending acknowledgements. We are also considering a staff pie contest for the end of the year, to celebrate the fact that 2010
has been a very good year for acquisitions, a topic I will return to in greater detail in the new year. For now, I can share the following good news.
The Center has just received the papers of Robert Sobieszek, former Curator of Photography at George Eastman House (1971-1990) and subsequently at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (1990-2005). The gift of his archive from his wife,
Sarah Lee, is the most recent addition to the Center’s growing collections of archives from photography scholars and curators. A prodigious contributor to the history of photography, Sobieszek’s books and exhibition catalogs continue to be valued as groundbreaking
resources on topics ranging from the daguerreotypes of Boston portraitists Southworth and Hawes to advertising photography, and photographs by sculptor Robert Smithson and writer William S. Burroughs, artists who were not known for their photographs. Sobieszek’s
papers include his research for the ten books and close to one hundred essays, along with over fifty exhibitions that he organized. His papers document his role as an expert witness at the 1990 Cincinnati obscenity trial involving photographs by Robert Mapplethorpe.
Sobieszek’s arguments that Mapplethorpe’s photographs were art and not pornography lead to the acquittal of Cincinnatti’s Contemporary Arts Center and its director, Dennis Barrie from the charge of exhibiting pornography.
I am also delighted to report that
nearly 10,885 photographs from our collections have been scanned since July, and added on the online digital archive, UAIR, available at
http://ccp.uair.arizona.edu/user. (You will need to create a free user profile to view images.) We have nearly 15,000 images from 11 collections available, from a total of over 90,000 photographs in the fine art
collection.
Finally, I am deeply satisfied to introduce two new staff members. Ruth McCutcheon joined the Center on November 1 as Director of Development. She moved from Santa
Fe, NM after fundraising for The Lensic Performing Arts Center. Jennifer DiCocco became the Museum Assistant in the Richard Avedon Archive at the Center in October. Jennifer has her master’s degree in Photographic Preservation and Collections from Ryerson
University in Toronto. Her previous experience includes a practicum at the George Eastman House and an internship at the California Museum of Photography.
I hope your holidays will be festive and will include relaxing with family and friends.
Katharine Martinez, Director
martinezk@ccp.library.arizona.edu
Upcoming exhibitions
Face to Face: 150 Years of Photographic Portraiture
December 28, 2010 - May 15, 2011
An exploration of the photographic portrait - the stories portraits can tell, the ways photographers convey the essence of their subjects and the impact of the relationship between photographer
and subject. Including over 70 portraits from the Center for Creative Photography, this exhibition will include work by some of the greatest portraitists and photographic image-makers of the 19th, 20th, and 21st century: Southworth and Hawes, Gertrude Kasebier,
Edward Weston, Dorothea Lange, W. Eugene Smith, Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Yousuf Karsh and Richard Avedon.
Ansel Adams: Arizona and the West
December 28, 2010 - May 15, 2011
Ansel Adams had a special connection to Arizona, the most significant being his 1975 decision to co-found the Center for Creative Photography at the University of Arizona, and place his
entire photographic collection and archive in the care of this new institution.
Ansel Adams: Arizona and the West
includes nearly forty works pulled from the Ansel Adams Archive at the Center representing the entire course of Adams’s prolific career.
These images show the wide range of work Adams produced in Arizona and throughout the American West. From quiet studies of natural details to the awe-inspiring grandeur of massive mountains under cloud-filled skies, Adams chronicled the land with passion fueled
by a deep appreciation of the transformative power of the wilderness.
Upcoming events
John Schaefer Remembers Ansel Adams
Thursday, January 20, 5:30 p.m.
Taking as his starting point his portrait of Ansel Adams, former University of Arizona President, John Schaefer will discuss his special relationship with the famous photographer. Schaefer and Adams co-founded the Center for Creative
Photography in 1975 and worked together on a number of projects over the next decade.
The Famous, The Infamous, The Anonymous: A History of Portraiture in Photography
Thursday, February 3, 5:30 p.m.
Lorraine Anne Davis, curator and photography appraiser, will discuss exhibition images in
relation to a broader consideration of the portraiture genre. Ms. Davis graduated from the University of Wisconsin with an MA and an MFA in photography. She served as former Assistant Director of the Paul Strand Archive and Kuratorin of the Pfeifer Collection,
Zürich - the only private collection of Classical American Photography in Europe. She has written for multiple academic publications including the UK quarterly,
The History of Photography, and is currently revising Lee Witkin and Barbara London’s 1979 classic
The Photograph Collector’s Guide.
Artist’s Talk: Emmet Gowin
Thursday, February 24, 5:30 p.m.
Emmet Gowin received an MFA from the Rhode Island School of Design where he studied with Harry Callahan, a lifelong mentor and great influence. Throughout his career he has made loving and poetic observations of his family and the essentiality
of his wife, Edith, to his life. Gowin has received numerous honors, including Guggenheim and National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships and the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University in 1997.
The Curatorial Perspective
Friday, April 8, 5:30 p.m.
Rebecca Senf, Norton Family Curator of Photography will discuss her image choices for the
exhibition, several key photographs in relation to their close variants, alternate croppings, related paintings, and the expansion of the exhibition for the Center for Creative Photography galleries.
December at the Doris and John Norton Gallery, Phoenix Art Museum
www.PhxArt.org
Current exhibition
Brett Weston and Sonya Noskowiak: Inspired Vision
Norton Photography Gallery, Phoenix Art Museum
December 4, 2010 – March 15, 2011
In the early decades of the 20th century, young artists Brett Weston (1911-1993) and Sonya Noskowiak (1900-1975) rejected the accepted
mode for art photography and embraced the cutting edge: modernism. Both seriously pursued the medium on the encouragement of Edward Weston - father to Brett, and mentor and lover to Sonya. The elder Weston's influence is apparent in Brett's and Sonya's early
photography. However, both had extended careers that allowed for distinctive departures from their initial explorations.
Brett Weston and Sonya Noskowiak: Inspired Vision
features 40 works by each photographer, allowing for comparisons between their landscapes, nature studies and portraits. This exhibition was organized by the Center for Creative Photography and Phoenix Art Museum.
Events at Phoenix Art Museum
Viewing: The Art of the Steal
Wednesday, December 8, 7 p.m.
In conjunction with the exhibition “Creative Continuum: The History of the Center for Creative Photography,” get some insight into how one of the Center’s past directors helped to build
the institution. In museums, directors wield great influence on what is collected, how it is presented, the building it lives in and how the museum interacts with its community. Join a moderated discussion between Jim Enyeart, former director of the Center
for Creative Photography, and Jim Ballinger, director of Phoenix Art Museum, as they reveal the tough decisions, goals, challenges, disappointments and quirks of setting direction for cultural institutions.
Other Local Photo News
in-‘stôl
Old Market Galleries at 403 and 439 North 6th Avenue
Saturday, December 4 – Sunday, December 5
An exhibition celebrating the dynamic, interdisciplinary identity of the University of Arizona’s diverse Masters of Fine Arts program. Organized by UA Professor James Cook,
in-‘stôl showcases the work of 13 MFA candidates: Jovan Erfan, Michael Fadel, Erin Garber-Pearson, Rebecca Hamlin, Emma High, Andrea Jensen, Stephen Jensen, Austin Martin, Ben McKee, Daisy Pitkin, Ashley Raasch, Frank Yunker, and Sarah Zidonik. Including
elements of painting, photography, printmaking, sculpture, textiles, video, animation, digital media, and various combinations thereof,
in-‘stôl is an attempt to reinvigorate the various histories of installation and highlight the multiplicity of futures emerging from UA’s School of Art.
Open Saturday, December 4, 5 p.m. – 12 a.m. and Sunday, December 5, 12 – 4 p.m. Old Market Galleries are located at 403 and 439 North 6th Avenue. This exhibition
is free and open to the public.
