t ar matters
Week of Sunday, July 28, 2013
www.montgomerynews.com
Page 21
■ August 2013
■ Covering the Arts throughout the Philadelphia Region
ExhibitionsInSight
An inspired collection of ‘Family Portraits’
T
By Burton Wasserman
“Untitled (Girls in Plaid ‘Hoovering’ the Lawn),” 1987-91 (negative); 1992 (print). Nick Waplington, British, born 1965. Chromogenic print, Image: 12 ¾ x 19 1/8 inches (32.4 x 48.6 cm), Sheet: 16 x 20 inches (40.6 x 50.8 cm). Philadelphia Museum of Art, Purchased with the Alice Newton Osborn Fund, 1993.
he days are long gone when the position of photography as a serious art medium was still uncertain. Using a camera to make deeply expressive pictures of people is often a process of holding a mirror up to one’s brothers and sisters living in the human family. On the one hand, these images can reflect a seemingly infinite number of differences. At the same time, they can also call attention to a vast range of similarities that people everywhere share with each other. All of these facts come compellingly into focus in an exhibition titled “Family Portrait.” It is currently on view in the Julien Levy Gallery at the Perelman Building of the Philadelphia Museum of Art on Benjamin Franklin Parkway and 26th Street, across from the Parthenon-like structure on Fairmount. The
closing date is Nov. 10, 2013. Many of these pictures tell all sorts of different tales. Typically, some are from long ago and far away. Others date from more recent time. Back in the first half of the 19th century, early British photographers like Lucy and Charlotte Bridgeman made pictures of people in their family. They used big, heavy cameras, fragile glass negatives and a great deal of uncertain processing chemistry. Nevertheless, their photographs are intense with the flavor of the early Victorian era. Exhibiting remarkable detail, the clothing styles worn by their subjects give especially clear voice to that period when they were still alive. Often the pictures document special occasions such as dinners, parties, concerts and theatrical performances. In addition, they offer evidence of the exceptional picture-making talent the sisters were able to exercise, probably because they led lives of relative privilege Please see Family Portrait on A22