Ellen and I decided that we want to have one major exhibition a year in the gallery--likely in the fall. It is a huge amount of work to mount a show so one major show feels about right. We also have mini shows in tandem with our resident artists and the rest of the year we have our own photo collection on display. Our first Cassilhaus show with MJ Sharp in 2009 was an unqualified success and set a pretty high bar. When we were brainstorming ideas for the 2010 show Ellen had a great idea. We are members of the Friends of Photography (FOP) at the NC Museum of Art, a collectors group that helps support photography acquisition at the museum. We take field trips to see members private collections and she said "so few people get to see these amazing collections--why don't we curate a show from our members' collections and put it up in the gallery?" I was immediately hooked. I asked Huston Paschal, a former NCMA curator, dear friend, and fellow FOP member if she would put together the show with me and she enthusiastically (and perhaps foolishly) agreed. We went to visit 10 private collections in the area and were BLOWN AWAY with the quality (and quantity) of work we encountered. We looked at well over 1000 photographs and quickly gleaned that we would have enough top quality work for 4 or 5 shows. We decided to give our self some constraints to bring the number of pieces to a manageable number. It was painful but first we eliminated color work and then we eliminated digital prints. We were left with traditional black and white darkroom prints and even then it was painful to get down to the 74 prints that we ended up including in the show. The prints were stunning and the list of photographers reads like a list of the medium's masters: Robert Adams, Harry Callahan, Paul Caponigro, Bruce Davidson, Elliot Erwitt, Lee Friedlander, Andre Kertesz, Sally Mann, Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Aaron Siskind, Frederick Sommer, Ralph Steiner, Hiroshi Sugimoto, and Brett Weston to name just a few of the included artists. We were extremely pleased that regional photographers were so well represented in the collections we drew from including fantastic work by North Carolina's own Frank Hunter, Elizabeth Matheson, David Simonton, and Jeff Whetstone. The entire checklist from the exhibition is available here.
Here are a few installation shots.
We had a wonderful opening party in October and I regrettably forgot to take pictures. I made up for it at the festive Black and White themed closing party!
Our 5 star catering team of Jeanne, Lynn, Renee, and Ellen spoiled us all. Ellen even invented a black and white appetizer.
Nice shoes Jefferson!!
Photographer David Simonton, featured in the exhibition, is clearly showing his preference for film.
World class photo tryptic Elizabeth Matheson, David Simonton, and Burk Uzzle.
Look carefully at Jim's shirt buttons!
My co-conspirator on this exhibition Huston Paschal with friends Guy and Mindy
I was terribly sad this week to see all this beautiful work go back to its owners. I have become quite attached to some of these images. We are very grateful to all of the generous lenders who made this exhibition possible. We had over 650 people view the show incuding photo classes from Duke and UNC. Now we have to start working on next year.......................
While there is perhaps a province in which the photograph can tell us nothing more than what we see with our own eyes, there is another in which it proves to us how little our eyes permit us to see. ~Dorothea Lange
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