|
|
For more information or digital images, contact
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Laura McPhee: River of No Return |
|
| In her large-scale photographs—each measuring six by eight feet—Laura McPhee says "you feel the past and the present in one place." The exhibition Laura McPhee: River of No Return looks at the landscape and culture of the American West with a special focus on the Sawtooth Valley in central Idaho, a desolate part of the United States. The exhibition is on view May 17–September 22, 2013, at the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art in Kansas City, Missouri. It opens with a free, public reception 5:30–7:30 p.m., Friday, May 17. Admission is free. |
|
| Photographer Laura McPhee began this body of work in 2003 as the first resident artist supported by the Alturas Foundation. By 2008 she had traveled to the Sawtooth Valley nine times, photographing the ranches, creeks, mountain ranges, and people. The exhibition is comprised of 27 photographs of the Sawtooth Valley, pictured at various times throughout the year. These monumental photographs balance the majesty of mountains and terrain of the American West with the everyday life of the Valley’s inhabitants and visitors. In one photograph, a car leaves a dust trail across the expansive landscape. In another, a woman in a flowing gown tracks radio-collared wolves. |
|
| McPhee's works also raise issues about the impact of humans on the land and the tensions among ranchers, hunters, environmentalists, and recreationists. She captures images of the region’s beauty that, in some ways, is a victim to its “endless” resources. Mining, land development, and other uses have left imprints—some permanent—on the landscape of the Sawtooth Valley. Her lush images—made with a large-format camera and printed using traditional photographic methods—envelope and engage viewers in their sheer scale and poetic intimacy. McPhee’s choice of camera, photographic paper, and method of printing reflect a bygone technology, now replaced with digital cameras and printers. | |
| The artist’s photographs also contribute to the long tradition and the romance of depicting America’s frontier. From Albert Bierstadt and Frederic Remington to photographers Timothy O’Sullivan, Carleton Watkins, and Ansel Adams, artists have been drawn to the grandeur of the landscape and the promise of space and independence it holds. Perhaps as a nod to those artists and explorers who came before her, McPhee gives her works lengthy titles noting the time of year, location, and other pertinent information that viewers might miss. | |
McPhee’s great-grandmother was an early settler in the American West. In the early part of the 20th century, her great-grandmother left her husband in Ohio and traveled throughout western mining towns in Montana, Nevada, Idaho, Oregon, and Washington. She worked as an itinerant schoolteacher and supported her two daughters, including McPhee’s grandmother. McPhee imagines that much of the landscape and the rural—nearly off the grid—experiences remain the same today. |
|
A book, titled River of No Return: Photographs by Laura McPhee, accompanies the exhibition. |
|
About Idaho’s Sawtooth Valley |
|
Hours and Admission |
|
Thank you |
|
Support for the Kemper Museum is generously provided by the Arts KC Fund—Arts Council of Metropolitan Kansas City; Francis Family Foundation; Arvin Gottlieb Charitable Foundation, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; Karen and Jack Holland; David Woods Kemper Memorial Foundation; William T. Kemper Foundation, Commerce Bank, Trustee; Missouri Arts Council; Harry Portman Charitable Trust, UMB Bank, n.a., Trustee; and Jo Ann and William Sullivan. |
|
For more general information about the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art, visit www.kemperart.org. (end) |
|
|
|
.......................................................................................................................................
Past exhibitions and other releases:
