Lowe Art Museum at UM focuses on photography

April 9, 12:39 PMMiami Travel ExaminerGeorge Leposky

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Habitat No. 3, by
Carsten Meier. Credit:
University of Miami.

The University of Miami’s Lowe Art Museum will devote much of its exhibition space through the spring and summer of 2009 to photography.

Its shows will feature the work of a faculty member and a celebrated UM alumnus, and an overview of notable photography from the dawn of the medium to the present.

The faculty member, Carsten Meier, is an assistant professor in UM’s Department of Art and Art History. A photographer who shows his work internationally, he joined UM’s faculty in 2008.

Idealized portrait of wilderness

Meier’s exhibition, Naturell, focuses on the individual’s perception of nature and how the act of seeing a photograph establishes a transitory thread between the viewer and the environment that the photo depicts.

In his Habitat series, Meier uses large-format shots of categorical landscapes to create living spaces for birds, insects and reptiles. The grand scale captures and accentuates details the human eye alone could not, thus forcing the viewer to confront unperceived realities. His delicate use of digital imaging techniques creates an overlay of multiple encounters with wildlife to produce an idealized portrait of wilderness.

Meier will lecture about his work at 7 PM on Friday, April 17, followed by a preview reception from 8 PM to 10 PM. The lecture and reception are free and open to the public. Naturell will be on display from April 18 to June 14.

Habitat No. 3, detail,
by Carsten Meier. Credit:
University of Miami.

Historic photographs

One of the summer exhibits, Through the Lens: Photography from the Permanent Collection, showcases UM’s extensive collection of photographic materials. It spans the development of the art form from its earliest beginnings in the mid-19th century. Genres include early travel and portraiture, landscape, international modernism, the world of celebrity, documentary, and contemporary idioms.

Nineteenth-century prints to be displayed include examples of early photographic processes, including tintype, ambrotype, and daguerreotype.

A fine portfolio of hand-pulled photogravures, created through an intaglio printmaking process, is part of a recent addition to the collection titled “The Golden Age of British Photography.” It includes prints by Francis Frith, Julia Cameron, and Fox Talbot.

Diverse 20th century genres

Modern masters from the first decades of the 20th century include Edward Steichen, Lewis Wickes Hine, Berenice Abbott, and Man Ray.

Photography through the mid-20th century includes prints by Edward Weston, Paul Strand, and Manuel Alvarez Bravo.

The Lowe’s holdings include an important collection of photographs by Walker Evans, dating from the 1920s through 1940s.

Post-World War II photography features such notables as Gary Winogrand, Elliott Erwitt, Imogen Cunningham, and Arnold Newman.

Finally, contemporary photography will be represented by images by Cindy Sherman, Gregory Crewdson, Nan Goldin, Robert Mapplethorpe, Martin Parr, John Baldessari, Sandy Skoglund, and William Wegman.
 

Untitled (Robin with Ring
of Eggs),1993, by Gregory Crewdson,
United States, b. 1962.
chromogenic color print.
Courtesy of the artist and
Luhring Augustine, New York

Newman’s own separate show

Arnold Newman, the UM alumnus, is a prominent portrait photographer who studied art at the university after World War II.  Arnold Newman: Photographic Legacy will showcase the Lowe’s collection of Newman prints that capture the essence of the work and personality of towering figures from the worlds of arts, letters, and politics.

Through the Lens: Photography from the Permanent Collection, and Arnold Newman: Photographic Legacy will both be on view from June 27 through October 4, 2009.

Newman will lecture about his work at 7 PM on Friday, June 26, followed by a preview reception from 8 PM to 10 PM. The lecture is free and open to the public, but admission to the reception is free for Lowe members only. For non-members, the charge is $10 for adults, $5 for students.

Lowe Art Museum, 1301 Stanford Drive, Coral Gables FL 33124, 305-284-3535.

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