Vera Lutter Photography Exhibition

VERA LUTTER INVERTED WORLDS

APRIL 15 – JULY 17, 2016

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NOMA PRESENTS THREE RELATED EXHIBITIONS THAT CHART SIGNIFICANT MOMENTS OR FIGURES IN THE HISTORY OF THE NEGATIVE IMAGE ACROSS THREE CENTURIES. VERA LUTTER: INVERTED WORLDS IS ACCOMPANIED BY PAPER NEGATIVES, AND NEGATIVE IMAGE. TOGETHER, THESE EXHIBITIONS INVITE YOU TO CONSIDER PHOTOGRAPHY’S PAST AND PRESENT, AS WE FACE ITS DIGITAL, AND POTENTIALLY NEGATIVE-LESS FUTURE.

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VERA LUTTER

INVERTED WORLDS APRIL 15 – JULY 17, 2016 As photography moves further into the digital realm, photographs are increasingly an immaterial phenomenon, and the negative as an object is fast becoming a relic of photography’s past.

In an inversion of this progression, Vera Lutter (German, born 1960) returns photography to its roots, using traditional processes and the simplest form of the camera in exceptional ways to create monumental works that emphasize the material qualities of the photograph and demonstrate the visual complexity of the negative image. Her images invert the world—light is dark, dark light, and left is right, and right left—while her practice subverts the notion that smaller and more complex cameras constitute a step forward in photography’s history.

Lutter transforms entire rooms, shipping containers, or purpose built boxes into enormous pinhole cameras.

She affixes photographic paper to one of the walls inside the camera and then waits for the very faint traces of light coming in through a lens to imprint on the paper. The exposure times range from three hours to three months, and during that time, Lutter works inside the camera, controlling the amount of light that each part of the paper receives so that it remains even across

the field in the end. The resulting negative is the product of both the photographic process and the artist’s dedicated performance. Each one is unique: the prints in the exhibition are the very same pieces of paper that occupied the camera for the duration of the exposure.

In both subject and process, Lutter explores photography’s relationship to time. Since the exposures are prolonged, each work presents a seamless continuum of time in which an infinite number of moments are recorded, every one superimposed on the others, collapsing continuity into a flat plane. In these images, therefore, the world neither was nor is, but is constantly in the process of becoming.

This status is underscored by the subjects represented in these images.

Her picture, Clock Tower, Brooklyn (at right), for example, reduces a timekeeping device to an armless sentinel, its purpose stripped by time, the very thing it is meant to record. The negative tones also dislodge each of these images from an easily recognizable timeline, reversing bright light into pitch-black and turning day into night.

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ON THE COVER Vera Lutter, Radio Telescope, Effelsberg, XV: September 12, 2013, 2013, unique gelatin silver print, collection of the artist, courtesy of Gagosian Gallery

Vera Lutter: Inverted Worlds is organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, in association with the New Orleans Museum of Art. The New Orleans presentation is sponsored in part by Milly and George Denegre and Adrea Heebe and Dominick Russo. Additional support is provided by Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali.

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST All works are unique gelatin silver prints by Vera Lutter (German, born 1960).

Pepsi Cola, Long Island City, VI: May 28, 1998, 48 x 120 in.

Collection of Shelley Fox Aarons and Philip Aarons Corte Barozzi, Venice, XXXIII: December 11, 2005, 68½ x 42 in.

Joseph M. Cohen Family Collection Kvaerner Shipyard, Rostock, Warnemünde, IX: December 5, 2000 3 frames, each 80 x 42 in., Collection of Peter Josten and Sam Trower ABOVE TOP RIGHT:

Rheinbraun, TX: August 30, 2006, 2 frames, each 96 x 56 in., Collection of Larry Gagosian Chrysler Building, IX: July 13, 2014 85½ x 42 in., Collection of Larry Gagosian

ABOVE RIGHT:

San Marco, Venice, XX: December 3, 2005, 2 frames, each 91 x 56 in., The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, museum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment Fund, 2015.285.A,.B Radio Telescope, Effelsberg, XV: September 12, 2013 96 x 84 in., Collection of the artist, courtesy Gagosian Gallery Radio Telescope, Effelsberg, XVII: September 16, 2013 96 x 84 in., Collection of the artist, courtesy Gagosian Gallery

Cold Spring, IX: February 17, 2014 55 x 105 in., Collection of the artist, courtesy Galerie Max Hetzler Pepsi Cola Interior, XXIII: July 1–31, 2003 89 x 112 in., Collection of the artist ABOVE LEFT:

Clock Tower, Brooklyn, XI: June 1, 2009, 985/8 x 987/8 inches, Collection of the artist, courtesy Baldwin Gallery

Times Square, New York, V: July 31, 2007 101 x 56 in., Collection of the artist, courtesy Gagosian Gallery

All images © Vera Lutter, Courtesy Gagosian Gallery

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PAPER NEGATIVES Paper Negatives is sponsored in part by Milly and George Denegre and Adrea Heebe and Dominick Russo. Additional support is provided by Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali.

Although written histories of photography have typically focused on the importance of positives in photography, the photographic negative and its image possess their own rich parallel history.

This exhibition brings together an exceptional group of early paper negatives and demonstrates that the visual presence of the negative in the nineteenth century rivaled or even eclipsed the power of the positive made from it.

Photographs on paper were first introduced to the world in 1839. Some of the earliest examples were negatives that took the form of cameraless photogram images, such as the Anna Atkins (at right), made by placing botanical specimens directly on a piece of chemically sensitized paper.

Soon, photographers began making negatives in the camera, which they would often share with colleagues while discussing the technical merits

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of the object, its legibility as an image, or its potential to produce a successful print. Some of the negatives in this exhibition can be backlit with the push of a button to show how these negatives functioned as translucent objects and how they are visually transformed with transmitted light.

Enlarging photographs was complicated and rare in the nineteenth century, which meant that the negative had to be as large as the desired print. This gave the nineteenth century negative a physical presence equal to the print, a quality that disappeared as the centuries and technology progressed and negatives shrunk down to the 35 millimeter format.

John Murray, a Scottish born medical doctor stationed in India, produced some of the largest and most impressive paper negatives anywhere. The majestic triptych of the Taj Mahal (above) is an extraordinary example of his achievement.

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST LEFT:

Anna Atkins (British, 1799 -1871), Ceylon, 1852-1854, Cyanotype, 13 1/4 x 10 1/4 in. Museum purchase, General Acquisitions Fund, 81.385 John Moyer Heathcote (British, 1800-1892), Windmill in Anglia, circa 1853, Paper negative, 7 5/16 x 6 in. Museum purchase, Tina Freeman Fund, 2015.125 Unidentified Photographer, Ceremonial Cart, circa 1858, Waxed paper negative and albumen silver print positive, Negative: 7 3/4 x 9 7/8 in.; Positive: 7 1/4 x 9 1/2 in. Museum purchase, 1981 Morton’s Deaccessioned Auction Funds, 82.41.1-.2 John Murray (Scottish, active in India, 1809-1898), Landscape in India, 1860s, Waxed-paper negative, 15 x 18 1/2 in., Loan from the collection of Dr. Siddharth Bhansali John Murray (Scottish, active in India, 1809-1898), Ruins of Ancient Palace, Fort, Agra, circa 1858-62, Waxed-paper negative and albumen silver print positive, Negative: 14 3/4 x 18 1/4; Positive: 14 1/2 x 17, Loan from the Werner Collection ABOVE:

John Murray (Scottish, active in India, 1809-1898), The Taj Mahal, A Three-Plate Panorama, February 2, 1964, Waxed-paper negatives, Left: 14 3/4 x 18 1/4, Center: 19 ¾ x 14 ¾, Right: 14 ¾ x 18 ¼, Loan from the Werner Collection

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NEGATIVE IMAGE In the first half of the twentieth century, artists experimented with a variety of darkroom techniques to produce partially or wholly negative images. Their adventurous approach to picture making shifted the role of the negative from a functional tool used in the production of a final image to the final image itself. This exhibition presents a selection of works from NOMA’s permanent photography collection that explore the various kinds of negative images that were produced by the photographic avant-garde in Eastern and Western Europe, and America.

Broadly speaking, these artists were interested in exploring photography’s creative potential. Their interest in abstraction was driven by a desire to highlight photography’s productive— as opposed to reproductive—capacity.

The goal, therefore, was to make images that distanced photography from the recognizable world and propelled it into the realm of abstraction and surreality.

To achieve this, some employed the cameraless photogram process that produced inverted shadow images of objects placed on the paper (John Banting, and Vaclav Chochola, for example), others used a “solarization” technique that inverted some but not all of the image (Carlotta Corpron, Andreas Feininger, etc.), and still others produced full negative images (Jean Boucher).

Unlike many of the negatives in the Paper Negatives concurrent exhibition, none of the works here could be used to produce a positive print. In the hands of these avant-garde photographers, the negative and its image enjoyed aesthetic value in its own right.

EXHIBITION CHECKLIST John Banting (British, 1902 – 1972) Photogram, circa 1935, Gelatin silver print 14 15/16 x 11 15/16 in., Museum purchase, Zemurray Foundation Fund, 74.164

Arthur Siegel (American, 1923 – 1994), Image without Camera, 1971, Gelatin silver print, 13 5⁄8 x 13 5⁄8 in. (sight), Gift of John Webster Keefe, 85.119

Unidentified Photographer, Photomontage, circa 1925, Gelatin silver print, 3 7⁄8 x 3 3⁄16 in., Gift of Eugene and Dorothy Prakapas, 92.887

Ilse Bing (German, 1899–1998), “Bec de Gaz,” Rue de la Chaise, Paris, 1934, Gelatin silver print, 8 7⁄8 x 11 3⁄16 in. (sight), Gift of an Anonymous Donor, 85.77.2

Jean Boucher (French, 1908 - ?), Negative Architecture Study, circa 1950, Gelatin silver print, 8 3⁄4 x 6 1⁄16 in. (sight), Gift of Clarence John Laughlin, 83.59.33 Andreas Feininger (American, 1906-1999) Solarization, Stockholm Waterfront, 1935 Gelatin silver print, 10 3⁄4 x 14 in., Museum purchase through the National Endowment for the Arts Grant, 75.124 Andreas Feininger (American, 1906-1999) Reticulation, Stockholm, 1937-1938 Gelatin silver print, 12 x 8 1⁄8 in., Museum purchase through the National Endowment for the Arts Grant, 75.127 Vaclav Chochola (Czech, 1923-2005), Untitled Photogram, circa 1940, Gelatin silver print, 11 1⁄2 x 9 in. (sight), Museum purchase, 84.67.2

Ilse Bing (German, 1899–1998)“Bec de Gaz,” Rue de la Chaise, Paris, 1934, Gelatin silver print, 8 1⁄2 x 11 1⁄8 in., Bequest of the Artist, 2000.28 OPPOSITE PAGE, RIGHT IMAGE:

Carlotta M. Corpron (American, 1901-1988, Solarized Calla Lillies, 1948, Gelatin silver print, varnished, 13 1⁄2 x 10 1⁄4 in. (sight), Gift of Clarence John Laughlin, 82.281.23 Man Ray (American, 1890-1976), Nude Portrait of Nusch Eluard from Facile, 1935 Gelatin silver print, 8 3⁄4 x 6 1⁄2 in., Promised and partial gift of H. Russell Albright, M.D., 91.522 Jaroslav Rössler (Czech, 1902-1990), Photogram, Paris, 1930-1931, Gelatin silver print, 11 5⁄8 x 9 1⁄4 in. (image), Museum purchase, 79.149 OPPOSITE PAGE, LEFT IMAGE:

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Imogen Cunningham (American, 1883-1976) Negative of a Snake, 1929, Gelatin silver print, 7 13⁄16 x 6 9⁄16 in. (sheet), Gift of Clarence John Laughlin, 82.281.87

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Negative Image is sponsored in part by Milly and George Denegre and Adrea Heebe and Dominick Russo. Additional support is provided by Dr. Siddharth K. Bhansali.

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American Modernism

Modern Art

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VERA LUTTER: INVERTED WORLD

Contemporary Art Modern Art

19th Century Art

Orientalism

Modern Art

Decorative Arts 3RD Floor

3RD Floor

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Impressionism

Louisiana Contemporary Art

ALL THREE EXHIBITIONS ARE PRESENTED ON THE

Kuntz Louisiana Bedchamber

Focus Gallery

1ST Floor

American A

French Ar

French Art

MUSEUM’S SECOND FLOOR.

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VERA LUTTER INVERTED WORLDS

PAPER NEGATIVES

NEGATIVE IMAGE

RELATED PROGRAMS FRIDAY, APRIL 15 | 5:30 PM

TUESDAY, APRIL 19 | 6:30 PM

FRIDAY, APRIL 22 | 7 PM

MAY 4, 11, 18, and 25 | NOON

FRIDAY, JUNE 17

GALLERY TALK WITH RUSSELL LORD

LECTURE

BY ARTIST VERA LUTTER

SCREENING OF FINDING VIVIAN MAIER

NOONTIME TALKS

Freeman Family Curator of Photographs, NOMA

Internationally renowned artist Vera Lutter presents a lecture on her work over the past ten years, exploring her unusual technique and her fascination with the subjects that she depicts in her monumental photographs.

This documentary tells the story of a mysterious nanny, who made over 100,000 negatives and hid them in storage lockers. They were rediscovered decades later and serve as the basis for the images in this film.

DISCUSSION WITH DEL HALL AND RICHARD CAMPANELLA

Join Curator Russell Lord for a tour of all three exhibitions on opening night.

www.noma.org

Join Curator Russell Lord every Wednesday in May at 12 pm for the Noontime Talks series.

Lord will explore, in depth, a different element of NOMA’s three related photography exhibitions each Wednesday.

| 6:30 PM

Prof. Campanella, a geographer with the Tulane School of Architecture, will discuss the career of photographer Del Hall.

The two will explore Hall’s work through his extensive collection of negatives and prints that captured pivotal moments in the Civil Rights Movement, the Vietnam War and many others.