August 2010 newsletter - RW Norton Art Gallery

Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Cover Story: Ansel Adams
Getting Friendly with Facebook
3
Around the Gallery
Currently Showing/Coming Soon
First Saturday Tour
4
5!
A publication of the R. W. Norton Art Gallery
Saturday Speaker Series
!
Out in the Gardens::
Southwest Garden
!
5
6
Tips from Kip:
Second Season Summer Annuals
Volunteering at the Norton
7
Let Our Souls Be Mountains:
The Photography of Ansel Adams
7
Emily on Education
Voices from the Archives:
Roger Matlock
8
9
Worth Quoting
Featured Artist:
D. Michael McCarthy
9
10
Featured Artwork:
Yosemite Valley
From the Library
11!
From the Vaults
Did You Know?
13
14
Information Please
Norton Information
15!
17
12
AT A GLANCE:
To visit the R. W. Norton Art
Gallery website, go to
http://www.rwnaf.org
Special Exhibitions:
Ansel Adams:
The Masterworks
Runs Aug. 17 - Dec. 31
The Works of Reggie
McLeroy
Runs Aug. 21 - Sept. 19
First Saturday Tour:
Sunset Tour
August 7, 2 p.m.
Saturday Speaker Series:
Reggie McLeroy
Artist Talk
August 21, 2 p.m.
Monolith, the Face of Half Dame,
Yosemite, California
On April 18, 1906, an aftershock from the famous
San Francisco earthquake flung four-year-old Ansel
Adams against a brick wall, smashing his nose and
leaving a leftward twist in it for the rest of his life.
It’s as if the earth were marking him for its own.
Adams became the best known and probably best
loved of all American landscape photographers,
though he himself would probably eschew the term
“landscape photographer.” Throughout his life he
also did portraits, commercial work, photography
dealing with “found objects”, and even some
documentary photography. Nonetheless, what we
envision when we think of Adams are his breathtaking vistas of the American West. Those are the
works celebrated in the exhibition Ansel Adams:
The Masterworks, on display at the Norton from
August 17 through December 31, 2010.
Ansel Easton Adams was born on February 20, 1902 into an upper middle class
family in San Francisco. Hyperactive and inattentive in school, Adams’s formal
education ceased when he was twelve, but his prescient and indulgent father had other
means of insuring learning. Charles Adams purchased a year-long pass for his son to
the Panama-Pacific International Exposition, a World’s Fair celebrating the opening of
the Panama Canal in 1915, and required him to spend several hours each day there
among the exhibitions and demonstrations. During the same period, young Adams
discovered his lifelong love of music and began training seriously for a career as a
concert pianist.
A family vacation to the Yosemite Valley in 1916 changed all that. Charles handed
Ansel a Kodak #1 Box Brownie to record their trip and a lifelong love affair began –
both with photography and with the Yosemite Valley. The concert world lost a prodigy
while the camera won a convert. Adams’s first photographs were published in 1921
and his first portfolio produced in 1926.
The photographs clearly demonstrated a transitional moment in Adam’s style, and his
devotion to the struggle to have photography appreciated as an art in its own right. In
his earliest photographs he had been a practitioner of pictorialism, an attempt to make
photographs look more like paintings via soft focus and muted lighting. However,
after he discovered the work of Paul Strand and Edward Weston, he became a
proponent of “pure photography” which he defined as “possessing no qualities of
technique, composition, or idea, derivative of any other art form . . . photography, as
an art form, must develop along lines defined by the actualities and limitations of the
photographic medium . . .” This viewpoint would lead Adams and other likeminded photographers, including Weston and Imogen Cunningham, to form the
group called f/64 in 1931. As an advocate of photography as art, Adams also served
as a member of the Photo League until 1947 when he resigned in the wake of
Everl Adair,
Dir. of Research and Rare Collections McCarthyism. He also helped found the photography magazine Aperture in 1951,
the non-profit Friends of Photography in 1967, and the Center for Creative
Jennifer DeFratis,
Photography at the University of Arizona in 1975, to which he later bequeathed his
Tour and Special Events Coordinator archives, including all his negatives. In addition to his published collections,
Adams also produced many texts on the craft of photography and served as a
Kip Dehart,
consultant for the Polaroid Corporation.
Landscape Designer
Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
AROUND THE GALLERY
CONTRIBUTORS
Adams continued to grow as an artist even as he produced what are today some of
his best-known images: Monolith, The Face of Half Dome, Yosemite National
Park; Clearing Winter Storm, Yosemite National Park; Aspens, Northern New
Mexico; and Moonrise, Hernandez, New Mexico. Light was the essential feature in
Emily Meyers,
Education Director
all his work. As he once wrote about the steps leading up to one of his
photographs: It was one of those mornings when the sunlight is burnished with a
keen wind and long feathers of cloud move in a lofty sky. The silver light turned every blade of grass and every
particle of sand into a luminous metallic splendor . . . I was suddenly arrested in the long crunching path up the ridge
by an exceedingly pointed awareness of the light.
Gary Ford,
Staff Writer
It is the use of that awareness that gives most of Adams’s photographs their particular arresting quality; they do not
just document a scene – they record the feeling that the scene evoked. Adams called the process visualization: “I had
been able to realize a desired image: not the way the subject appeared in reality but how it felt to me and how it must
appear in the finished print.”
As his photography developed, so did Ansel’s commitment to conservation. During his earliest excursions to
Yosemite, he had become a member of the Sierra Club and often organized their yearly camping trips. He wrote to
friend and art patron David McAlpin in 1941: The whole world is, to me, very much “alive” – all the little growing
things, even the rocks. I can’t look at a swell bit of grass and earth, for instance, without feeling the essential life –the
things going on – within them.
His mentor, Alfred Stieglitz, had said, “Art is the affirmation of life”, and Adams had absorbed the message. While his
photographs celebrated the natural beauty of the world, he also wanted them to heighten awareness of the need to
protect and preserve such sites. In 1940, he began a long history of political activism on behalf of the environment by
getting a copy of his book on the Sierra Nevada to Secretary of the Interior Harold Ickes and President Franklin D.
Roosevelt, which ultimately helped add the King’s Canyon area to John Muir National Historic Site.
Adams was also a founding members of the Wilderness Society in 1935 and the first recipient of its Ansel Adams
Conservation Award, established in 1980. When he received the Medal of Freedom from President Jimmy Carter in
1979, the citation noted that Ansel was “regarded by environmentalists as a monument himself, and by photographers
as a national institution.”
Adams died on April 22, 1984. In 1985, the California Wilderness Bill designated 100,000 acres in the Sierra National
Forest as the Ansel Adams Wilderness Area. A 11,760-foot peak on the boundary between Yosemite National Park and
that wilderness area was named Mount Ansel Adams.
Today, his original photographic prints are worth thousands of dollars and their status as art is assured. But in the end
what matters is the way his photographs reconnect us to our planet, to its beauty, to its fragility – in his words, “to
reveal to others the grandeur and potential of the one and only world which we inhabit.” Perhaps his contribution is
best noted in the closing words of his autobiography, in which he quotes an ancient Gaelic mantra taught to him by the
Irish poet, Ella Young:
I know that I am one with beauty
And that my comrades are one.
Let our souls be mountains,
Let our spirits be stars,
Let our hearts be worlds.
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--E.A.
GETTING FRIENDLY WITH FACEBOOK
Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
Technology is about connections--connecting people to each other, to ideas, and to possibilities.
Shirley Malcolm, American Association for the Advancement of Science
Founded in 2004 by Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook was
originally designed as a networking site for Boston-area IvyLeaguers. It has since expanded to include over 400 million
users. Now the Norton adds its own drop to that proverbial
ocean of patrons with its own interactive Facebook page,
found at: http://www.facebook.com/pages/Shreveport-LA/
Norton-Art-Gallery.
Spear-headed by Tour and Special Events Coordinator
Jennifer DeFratis, the Norton Facebook page became a reality
with the help of a few tech-savvy volunteers, including
Cassie Keys, a volunteer since January 2010. “Running a fan
page is very different from running a profile page,” she
remarks.
While the page is ever changing and adding new features every week, the staff hopes most of its content will be user-driven.
“We really want to connect to our patrons,” says DeFratis, “We want to discover what they love about the Norton, what they’d
like to see more of, and even hear about where we need some improvements.”
Like a standard profile page, the Norton Facebook page boasts a classic “Wall,” where all postings are listed in a newsfeed
format. Visitors may show they “like” an event by clicking a thumbs-up sign or even comment on upcoming events, photos, or
videos.
While the Wall tab is a good place to glance at recent postings, the “Events” tab is crucial for those who wish to keep up with
upcoming special exhibitions and other events. Users may even send RSVPs for events or sign up to have reminders sent to
their email accounts.
The “Photos” tab may become the most popular spot on the page. There, users may post their own photo. Currently, albums
feature photos of events, blooms in the botanical gardens, and even some wacky and wonderful shots from the World Wide
Web – like a photo of two pigeons posed exactly like Rodin’s statue Eternal Spring. Visitors may contribute photos of their
Norton experiences, especially since the camera policy inside the museum has relaxed recently. (Pictures? Yes! Professional
Pictures Inside? No. Flash? No.)
At the “Discussion” tab users may voice their opinions on issues currently facing the art world, both on local and national
levels. News articles from around the world will appear on a frequent basis and will be ready for vibes, views, and voice via
the all-powerful comment button.
At the “Review” tab, users may send feedback directly to senior staff and offer ideas, such as naming trails through the
gardens or suggest what’s missing from the museum experience.
A “Fun Stuff” tab, still under construction, may offer interactive games, quizzes, links and short videos for art lovers.
“I envision it as a good place to play and hang out--a ten-minute break from the real world,” says DeFratis. “We want to hear
from you! This Facebook page is different from our website,” she continues. “The website is a great page for information
about the museum and its collections, events, and other general information, but it’s very one-sided. The Facebook page ‘kicks
it up a notch’ to offer a conversational and creative opportunity to our most loyal fans to show us their artistic side as well.”
“While the old Web was about Web sites, clicks, and ‘eyeballs,’ the new Web is about communities, participation and peering,”
writes Don Tapscott in Wikinomics. “As users and computer power multiply, and easy-to-use tools proliferate, the Internet is
evolving into a global, living, networked computer that anyone can program. Even the simple act of participating in an online
community makes a contribution to the new digital commons.”
For over forty years, the Norton has offered a place of rest and retreat from the real world, while showcasing American and
European art and raising 40 acres of bountiful blooms. Using the Facebook page, the museum takes it one step further and
converses with the community, looks through patrons’ eyes, and strives to bring an enriching art experience to one and all.
--JD
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Currently Showing
Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
August 17 – December 31, 2010: Ansel Adams: The Masterworks
In his later years, Ansel Adams (1902 – 1984) chose a selection of his photographs
that he felt represented the best of his life’s work. Called “The Museum Set”, the
collection reveals the importance he placed on the drama and splendor of natural
environments that might not have otherwise revealed their secrets to the casual
passer-by. These forty-seven photographs represent a substantial portion of that
collection. This is the third exhibition of Adams’s photographs the Norton has
featured.
Coming Soon
August 21 - Sept. 19, 2010: Community Exhibition:
The Works of Reggie McLeroy
Lion
Coach Robinson
Museum
What initially caught our eye at the Norton were Mr. McLeroy’s talents with wildlife
artwork – paintings and drawings so detailed and lifelike they initially look like
photographs. He was the 2002 winner for the Louisiana Waterfowl Conservation
Stamp and Print, largely because his ducks float across water that looks as if it may
slosh off the page and splatter onto the floor. Many of Reggie’s lions, tigers and bears
will be on display from August 21 – September 19, but this Ruston artist is the
master of more than one medium. As I trekked through his portfolio, I was utterly
astounded at the stylistic diversity showcased.
In addition to his numerous awards and commissions for his ultra-realistic wildlife
artwork, he has also been commissioned for moving sports montages. In 2003, when
LSU won their first national football championship in over 45 years, Mr. McLeroy
painted The Year of the Tigers, featuring the powerful cat lounging on the field
surrounded by trophies. Reggie said, “I feel it’s my best painting yet.” Also on
display will be a montage of Eddie Robinson, showcasing the new museum
dedicated to the distinguished career of the legendary coach of Grambling State
University, and a montage of Michael Jordan in all his Bulls glory.
I personally think his best works are those aimed at younger audiences – his Lil’
Daddy series of cartoon panels. Mr. McLeroy, also Discipline Coordinator for
Lincoln Parish School Board, was always looking for ways to connect with students.
He found his connection with Lil’ Daddy and his “Filosophies From Da Hood,”
which have appeared in the Monroe News-Star for the last 14 years. Drawn in a
classic comic-strip style, Lil’ Daddy has the edginess of a “hip-hop youngster, but the
wisdom of an old man.” In display cases set in the middle of the gallery, you’ll be
able to see the progression of Lil’ Daddy creations, from drawings to ink to full color
posters.
Lil’ Daddy
--J.D.
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First Saturday Tour: Sunset Tour
Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
August 7, 2 p.m.
Even in the middle of the day this August, visitors to R.W. Norton Art
Gallery may stroll through the beauty of sunsets. They may also marvel
at remarkable landscapes by one of America’s greatest photographers,
and watch the natural world of Louisiana drift through field and stream,
at least on canvas, and all in the cool indoors.
Outside, visitors may stroll shady trails in the Norton’s urban forest,
where summer is still in bloom across forty acres of grounds and
botanical gardens. Admission is free to the grounds, the gardens, and
the museum, where twenty-four galleries display seven centuries of
European and American art.
Emigrants resting at Sunset
Albert Bierstadt
On August 7 at 2 p.m., visitors gather for the museum’s monthly First
Saturday Tour. That day Jennifer DeFratis, tour and special events
coordinator, guides “Sunset Tour,” a chronological and geographical ramble across America.
“Paintings of sunsets say so much about the artists and trends of art in their time,” DeFratis comments. “Ours date
from some of the earliest days of American art, and are much more than mere images of the end of day. They tell us
about the mood of the nation and the temperament of the artist.”
DeFratis begins the tour with Landscape, Sunset by Asher Durand, a painter from the early days of the Hudson River
School, America’s first great artistic movement. The Norton preserves thirty-one works by eight artists of the Hudson
River School, with four of those paintings featured on “Sunset Tour.”
Hudson River School artists translated natural beauty into a vision of the divine. Thomas Cole rendered A Snow
Squall as an image of serenity. “This rather tame and muted sunset reflects, in part, a philosophic choice,” DeFratis
comments. “One wonders,” she says, “how it may have appeared if Cole could dab on his palette chromium red,
yellow, and purple—three significant commercial colors not then available to artists.”
Albert Bierstadt, a later Hudson River School artist, dipped his brushes in those colors in creating Emigrants Resting
at Sunset. In this scene of settlers in wagons of white canvas on their way west, Bierstadt hails one day’s end as
tomorrow’s promise of a golden future awaiting Americans on the western horizon.
Another setting sun shines light on the artist’s soul. Influenced by the Barbizon School from 19th-century France,
George Inness invests his emotional and spiritual concerns in Sunset.
Elsewhere Frederic Remington’s poignant Twilight of the Indian foreshadows the destruction of the culture of the
Native American. Works of current painters D. Michael McCarthy (Evening on the Verde) and by Loren D. Adams,
Jr. (The Burning Image) reveal that the Hudson River School influenced these artists nearly two centuries later.
--G.F.
Saturday Speaker Series: Big Things Come in Small Packages
September 21, 2 p.m.
In association with our featured exhibition of his art, Reggie McLeroy will be on hand to
speak about his work, his life, and his inspirations on Saturday, September 21 at 2 pm.
His exhibition (see “Coming Soon”) will open at 1 p.m., so visitors will have a chance to
preview it before Mr. McLeroy’s presentation. If you can’t join us for this informative
and entertaining event, come at your leisure and enjoy an audio tour through our Guide
by Cell system, available for the four-week run of the exhibit.
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
IN THE GARDENS:
The Southwest Garden
Each day, one place in our forty acres of grounds and botanical gardens looks up at
the beaming August sun and says, “Give me your best shot!”
That’s our new Southwest Garden, a one-half acre layout that grows tall, if prickly,
smack in the middle of northwest Louisiana--this region of thick forests and lowlying wetlands. We started building it last summer as a way of making lemonade
from lemons. When we finished, we had transformed a stretch of poor soil on the east
side of the museum where Bermuda grass grew only with lots of water.
Southwestern Garden
A Southwest garden may also be called a xeriscape—a style of landscaping with
plants, mostly from southwestern states, that sip water and flourish in full sun. Many
xeriscapes are often hot and flat and sun-baked plots. Not ours. We sculpted it in small hills and dales of berms
built of a sand-clay mix, and covered with one-and-a-half-inch iron ore rock.
For contrast, we also brought in big boulders of basalt, and placed here and there rounded blue-gray stones,
worn smooth by centuries in riverbeds of northern Arkansas. A five-foot-tall waterfall, where recycled water
flows down, up, and down again gurgles over limestone ledges and tiger rock.
The tall trees of our urban forest and the museum building itself add another unexpected element to our
xeriscape. Shade. The building blocks the sun in late afternoon and early evening (especially in winter),
while trees cast shade across it in early morning. If you visit in mid-day, however, wear hat, shades, and
sunscreen.
You’re welcome to walk among the berms and admire the plants in our Southwest Garden. Don’t be fooled,
however, by ones that sound like “ouch” is their middle name. You may find thorns among Prickly Pear,
Apache Plume, Mexican Fire, Texas Honey Mesquite, Pink Fairy Duster, Desert Willow, Eastern Blue Star,
but they also produce flowers in many colors.
We’ve added one more—Devil’s Claw (Proboscidea parviflora). One of two native species of the plant, it
grows in the Gila River floodplain in Arizona. The seed capsules, so named for their evil-looking form, often
stick to hooves of livestock, like hitchhikers on free rides to new grounds. They also can hurt humans who step
on them with bare feet.
Pima Indians have used Devil’s Claw as the dark strip for coiled baskets. For us here, they provide beautiful
mid-summer tubular flowers of pinkish cast, with yellow nectar guide lines painted down the throats like
landing strips for pollinating bees.
With its stark, sun-brilliant beauty, the water-wise Southwest Garden provides a nice contrast to our softer side
of azaleas, gardenias, magnolias, and other plants. It also adds more color, tone, and texture where little else
once grew.
--K.D.
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TIPS FROM KIP:
Second Season Summer Annuals
August, only a calendar page away from autumn, doesn’t mean the end of summer annuals,
just the beginning of their second season. We’re blessed here in Louisiana to enjoy annuals
well into October. From begonias to zinnias, they provide a palette of colors from summer to
fall, from sweat to sweater.
This month, you can get your annuals ready for their cooler weather show. Slather on the
sunscreen, put on a hat, grab your clippers, and get busy deadheading.
That’s our term for snipping old, fading flowers. They’ve bloomed their hearts out in
summer, and now they’re turning to another stage in life. As they wrinkle and crinkle they
channel their energy from looking pretty to ripening seeds for the next generation. Once you
deadhead those old flowers the plants will sprout new blooms. Add a little fertilizer, water,
and within weeks you should have a show to complement your fall flowers.
I mentioned water. It’s really important in this hot, dry month to keep your garden moist. Set your alarm a
little early, and water soon after you awake.
Here are some other things to do in your garden in August:
1. Deadhead your flowering shrubs as well.
2. Feed your blooming plants with a full-strength solution of liquid plant food.
3. Pull weeds and apply pre-emergent weed control.
4. Look after your hanging baskets. Trim, feed, and water.
5. Consider your camera another gardening tool. In the soft, mellow light of early morning or late afternoon,
bring out your camera and make this year’s garden more than a memory.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES AT THE NORTON
Imagine what a harmonious world it would be if every single person, both young and
old, shared a little of what he is good at doing.
--Quincy Jones
Volunteering at the R.W. Norton Art Gallery is a fantastic way to get involved in our
community while learning more about art and history and meeting some really
incredible people. By contributing your time and knowledge, you can learn
something new, share what you already know, meet new people, and have a lot of fun
along the way.
The R.W. Norton Art Gallery offers a number of volunteer opportunities. Currently,
we are seeking friendly, outgoing people to act as docents for theme-oriented tours at
the Norton. Volunteers should be at least 18 years of age and have an interest in art. Docent opportunities are open
six days a week, from 10:00 to 4:00 on Tuesday through Friday, and from 1:00 to 4:00 on Saturday and Sunday.
Schedules are flexible, but the volunteer must commit to a minimum of an hour and a half at a time in order to
lead a tour and to at least one day per week to remain on the docent list.
Occasionally, we have intern positions available in our library and education departments. Interns must be a
minimum of 18 years of age and have a recommendation from a professional librarian or educator. These positions
are open Tuesday through Friday from 10:00 to 5:00. Interns may work mornings, afternoons, or a full day, but
must commit to a minimum of two continuous hours each time they volunteer and volunteer at least once a week
to remain on our volunteer list.
Volunteer placement, whether docent or intern, requires an application followed by an interview, criminal
background check, and an orientation/training session. Training for these tours will be provided by the Norton
staff. To apply, email [email protected] to request an application, or contact our Tour and Special Events Coordinator
Jen DeFratis at 318-865-4201, ext. 100.
--E.A.
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
EMILY ON EDUCATION
Some of our regular garden walkers may have seen something rather
peculiar a couple of weeks ago--a group of adults wearing beaks and
making unusual bird calls. The staff was not having a therapeutic
outing. Instead, we were participating in a Project Learning Tree inservice session.
All decked out for
Birds and Worms
Birds and Worms results
This environmental education program for teachers and other
educators working with pre-K through 12th grades uses the forest as a
“window” into the real world. The local, national, and international
scope of the program focuses on the total environment: land, air and
water. Interdisciplinary instructional activities are designed to teach
students how to think, not what to think about environmental issues.
Our fearless leader, Ricky Kilpatrick, is a forester for LSU AgCenter
and a Project Learning Tree coordinator, while his capable assistant,
his wife, Cindy, also teaches at Oil City Elementary where the
program was taken school wide and into the community. She shared
many ways the school has implemented the program with a specific
environmental emphasis at each grade level. It was fascinating to
hear the various ways the environment was used to teach math,
language arts, science, and social studies. Project Learning Tree
program is active in all 50 states, and we are fortunate to have a very
strong component here in Northwest Louisiana. At its core, it strives
to help students increase awareness of environmental issues, apply
scientific processes to environmental problems, and become
responsible members of society.
One of our group activities, “Renewable or Not”, concentrated on natural resources. Since our “resources”
were miniature Tootsie Rolls, we took the job of “importing” and “exporting” very seriously! It was a fun,
effective way to stress the importance of conservation technologies to extend the productivity of vital
resources.
In “Birds and Worms” our group divided into smaller “bird flocks”. We came up with our name, our call, and
facts about our flock.
We created beaks tailor-made to our own flock and went outside to collect
“worms” (pipe cleaners of various colors). This led to discussions about camouflage, food distribution, and
survival of the fittest. My group became rather competitive when told the flocks were racing to find the most
worms!
I highly recommend Project Learning Tree in-service training for anyone who works with children. Your time
will be well spent, you’ll have a lot of fun participating in environmental games, and you may even learn a new
birdcall or two!
--E.M.
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
VOICES FROM THE ARCHIVES:
Roger Matlock, U.S. Marine Corp, Korea
Before he fought in Korea, this native of Plain Dealing, Louisiana, grew up in a poor family in the Depression,
like so many in his generation. He felt embarrassed by his clothing, but even as a child refused what he
considered a hand out.
Matlock: Well, I know we were ashamed to go to town a lot of times
because we didn’t have proper clothes and shoes to wear. That kind of
sticks. I could feel that in school, too, in the first, second, and third grades.
The clothes that I had to wear and going barefoot to school when it was
warm, I just felt odd about that. I really think that we were, you’d call it
discrimination now, but it really wasn’t. One thing about going to school I
can remember this: in the third grade a teacher, her name was Mrs.
Mildred Purcell, was our third grade teacher. It was extremely cold. We
rode the school bus to school and we only had five people in the class that
day. I carried my lunch. I just had a lunch wrapped up in a newspaper, a
couple biscuits and some bacon. That teacher told us, “We’ve got free meal tickets, so y’all can go to the
cafeteria and eat.” There’s no way they are going to give me a free meal ticket to go eat. I just thought that
was for those poor people that didn’t have anything to eat. And here all I had was a biscuit and bacon!
Interviewer: Did you go?
Matlock: No.
Mr. Matlock served in Korea as an infantry corporal in the 5th Marine Regiment, 1st Marine Division from
August of 1951 to February of 1953. He later spent a career with International Paper Company. He is among
nearly 500 men and women from the Shreveport area who graciously gave their time to tell us their life stories
of service and sacrifice. We’re presenting these stories as part of our Oral History Project, an ongoing effort to
interview veterans of conflicts from World War II to the present. We also continue to collect interviews from
eyewitnesses to the civil rights struggle, pioneers of the energy industries, and those who created “the
Shreveport sound” in music.
If you or someone you know would like to share stories with us, please call (318) 865-4201, or contact
[email protected].
--G.F.
WORTH QUOTING
Photography records the gamut of feelings written on the human face, the beauty of the earth and skies that
man has inherited, and the wealth and confusion man has created. It is a major force in explaining man to
man.
--Edward Steichen
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
FEATURED ARTIST:
D. Michael McCarthy (1951-
)
D. Michael McCarthy was born in Los Angeles to a family that
fostered his early love of art by frequent visits to the many
museums in that city. Because his father was the vice president
of a real estate company, McCarthy’s first choice of a college
major was finance, but he soon abandoned it in favor of his love
of art, transferring to Fontbonne College in St. Louis after his
family moved there. He received his B.F.A. in 1973 and spent
the next eighteen months in the studio, developing his own style
and approach to landscape painting. Among his artistic
influences during this time were several artists whose works are
also found in the Norton’s permanent collection, including Dutch
Old Master Jacob van Ruisdael, whom he cites for “his powerful
Sentinel of the Sierras
use of light and dark”. He also admired versatile American
painter George Inness of whom McCarthy says, “[he] reaches beyond the things seen”, and the Hudson River
School artists. He explains that the latter, “is probably the school I feel closest to. It’s as though Moran,
Bierstadt, Church, Thomas Hill, and the rest were my friends.”
McCarthy continued to expand his artistic studies, taking courses at St. Louis University, Washington
University, and the Otis Art Institute, but soon discovered that his painting demanded an immersion in and
genuine experience of nature in the raw. While painting during winters in Los Angeles, he spent the rest of the
year for a “visual odyssey”, exploring the mountains, coasts, and scenic venues of the American West, often
venturing into places unfrequented by less adventurous souls. As he explained to Elizabeth Rigby of Southwest
Art in 1980, “The true sense of nature is only as broad as one’s experience with it.” Therefore, he says he
eschews the usual tourist sites: “I have found it imperative to climb and hike to those view-points that reveal
nature’s workings in a more complete way, like seeing the actual tree-line on a mountain after climbing up
through two or three different botanical zones, or seeing the wave action of a kelp bed by swimming out to it
through heavy surf . . .”
On one of these trips in 1976 McCarthy discovered the beauty of Sedona, Arizona and decided to settle there
permanently. Today he works almost exclusively in oils and crafts his pieces in much the same way as Hudson
River School painters, by bringing sketches from his travels back to the studio, where he creates the final
painting. He used this process in works like the Norton’s Sentinel of the Sierras. He explains, “To get the lines
of nature, the forms of nature, I have to draw it on the spot. A photograph for me is just this mechanical instant
that is too limiting. So much more can be distilled into a sketch.”
Once back in the studio, these sketches, usually watercolor, serve as source material for his final composition.
Again like Hudson River School artists, he occasionally “re-arranges” nature to achieve a particular effect. He
remarks of one painting, “The pinnacle on the left was behind me but I moved it over to give the view a 360
degree type of view.”
One of the most important elements in his painting is creating emotional response to light—a technique
characteristic of British artist J. M. W. Turner, who also influenced McCarthy. This is especially evident in the
Norton’s Evening on Mt. Rainier and Evening on the Verde. On the whole, McCarthy’s own words best sums
up his career: “What I am trying to do is to capture the people’s imagination, not just their attention.”
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--E.A.
FEATURED ARTWORK IN THE COLLECTION:
Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
Yosemite Valley by Albert Bierstadt
In the 1860s, Albert Bierstadt (1830-1902) became a dominant
member of the latter Hudson River School and one of the most
popular artists in America with his paintings of the Rocky
Mountains and California’s Yosemite Valley. Born in Prussia,
Bierstadt was only two when he came to the United States. Though
he had little formal training in America, he earned enough money
giving art lessons to travel to Dusseldorf, Germany in 1853. There
he studied with fellow Americans Worthington Whittredge and
Emanuel Leutze, while trying to gain an apprenticeship with
famous German landscape painter Andreas Achenbach. After three
years he returned to America and began sketching the White
Mountains and other northeastern sights.
He turned west in 1859 when he joined the survey party of Colonel Frederick West Lander and traveled along the
Platte River to the Wind River Mountains. In the Rockies, he finally found his great subject matter and was one of
the first artists to bring the image of these majestic peaks back to cultural centers of the Northeast. Bierstadt
announced, “Our own country has the best material for the artist in the world.”
While the public came to love his paintings of the West, Bierstadt was stunned by Carleton E. Watkins’
photographs of Yosemite that were on exhibit in New York’s Goupil’s Gallery. In 1863, Bierstadt headed for
California, first traveling by stagecoach, then with three companions. Armed against Indian attack, they slept
outdoors. The trip certainly paid off; the painting he brought back of the Yosemite Valley led the leading American
art critic, James Jackson Jarves, to recognize Bierstadt as unsurpassed in his depiction of American light. Bierstadt
began a decade of enormous success. Soon, his paintings were bringing in record sums. One, The Domes of
Yosemite, sold for more than twenty-five thousand dollars.
Yosemite Valley and other paintings Bierstadt made of the majestic site demonstrated his approach to landscape he
had begun to develop in Germany, which blended the realism that was becoming prominent in the mid to late 19th
century with the idealism of earlier Romantic landscapes. To prepare them he sketched on site in both pencil and
oil, collected wildlife and Native American artifacts, and took photographs. All of these he transported across
country to his New York studio, where he created compositions that conveyed both unity and emotional impact.
The contrast of the more thickly painted foregrounds, typical of the 17th century Dutch manner of Jacob van
Ruisdael, with the luminous, atmospheric distances typical of French master Claude Lorrain or English innovator
J.M.W. Turner, creates a convincing illusion of depth, which was highly imitated by later 19th century painters.
Though paintings like these helped to convince Congress of the need to establish the National Parks Service,
saving the sites (and sights) for future generations, Bierstadt’s art did not fare equally well. By the 1880s, his work
had fallen from favor. The last nail in his artistic coffin was said to be the rejection of his painting, The Last of the
Buffalo, from exhibition at the 1889 Paris Exposition Universelle. The president of the selection committee that
rejected him was his old friend and mentor, Worthington Whittredge.
Bierstadt died suddenly in 1902 without much notice from the art world. Happily, his reputation has been restored
as the 21st century begins and he is represented in major museums and galleries across America. Scholar Nancy
Anderson declares, “In paintings that became visual sanctuaries (much the way national parks became literal
sanctuaries), Bierstadt offered safe haven for the wilderness myth that lay at the heart of America’s definition of
itself.”
--E.A.
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
FROM THE LIBRARY:
The Oregon Trail: Sketches of Prairie and Rocky-Mountain Life
by Francis Parkman, Illustrated by Frederic Remington
Boston: Brown & Company, 1892
First edition of this special version
In the numerous accounts and the more obscure journals that make 1846
perhaps the best-documented year in the history of the West, there runs a
predominant symbol of civilization and security – the road – but Parkman seems
particularly to have sensed the importance of that symbol, to have understood
how the road, stretching westward in vast isolation and terrifying loneliness,
dominated the imagination of those who traveled it.
--E.N Feldskog (Parkman’s editor)
In May of 1846, the 23-year-old Bostonian Francis Parkman, a recent graduate
of Harvard Law School, set out to visit Fort Laramie in present-day Wyoming,
largely to satisfy his curiosity about Native Americans. With the companionship
of his cousin, Quincy Adams Shaw, he journeyed from Westport, Missouri up the
Platte River to Fort Laramie, then headed south through present-day Colorado
and Kansas before returning home. Already a veteran traveler, having toured
Old Smoke
Europe and the more rugged areas of New England, Parkman was determined to
Frederic Remington
become a significant historian of colonial America and, in order to obtain a better
understanding of Native Americans, wanted to see them in their original habitats.
When the book was published, Herman Melville praised the volume overall, but criticized its author for his
rather demeaning treatment of the tribes as well as the fact that he traveled only the first (easiest) third of the
Oregon Trail.
About 2,000 miles long, the trail extended from Independence, Missouri to the Columbia River in Oregon.
Parkman took the first part, which followed the Platte River for 540 miles through Nebraska Territory to his
destination, Fort Laramie. From there, the trail continued along the North Platte and Sweetwater rivers to the
Wind River Range of the Rocky Mountains, then went south to Fort Bridger, Wyoming, before turning into
the Bear River Valley and north to Fort Hall in present-day Idaho. Following the Snake River to the Salmon
Falls, it turned north past Fort Boise, then entered present-day Oregon. There it traversed the Grande Ronde
River Valley, crossed the Blue Mountains, and sidled alongside the Umatilla River to the Columbia River.
The journey was exceptionally difficult and one in 10 of the travelers died along the way. Contrary to western
mythology, most of the tribes wayfarers encountered were friendly and helpful. Most emigrant deaths were
the results of cholera, poor sanitation, and accidental gunshots within the camps. In the end, more than a half
million people went west on the trail, some to Oregon, others continuing south to California. The trail’s
popularity only ended with the completion of the transcontinental railroad in 1869.
Parkman’s book proved nearly as popular as the trail itself. It was initially serialized in 21 installments in
Knickerbocker’s Magazine (1847-49). He later revised and reissued it at least four times. The final revision in
1892 allowed Parkman to take advantage of the services of the most popular Western illustrator of his time.
Frederic Remington produced 77 illustrations for the special edition, included one of Old Smoke, the original
of which may be found on display in the Norton’s Remington Gallery.
--E.A.
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
From the Vaults:
The North American Indian by Edward Curtis
In depicting Native Americans, early painters like George Catlin and John
Mix Stanley were as much anthropologists as they were artists, attempting
to create a record of a people and a time that were quickly fading from
existence. That same impulse, nearly a century later, inspired the great
photographer, Edward Curtis. Born in Wisconsin in 1868, Curtis soon
moved with his family to Minnesota where he became interested in
photography. As a young adult, he settled near Seattle, Washington, where
he bought a half-interest in a photographic studio, married, and had four
children. In 1898, Curtis met George Bird Grinnell, a noted Indian expert,
who invited him to photograph the Blackfeet Indian people in Montana.
This began Curtis’s great photographic work, The North American Indian.
Curtis was determined to memorialize cultures he saw as subject to
extinction. Indians were regarded as a dying race. As David Beck, a
professor of Native American Studies at the University of Montana points
out: This belief was buttressed by two scholarly theories: 1) the view that
Two Strike, Lakota Tribe
Edward Curtis
America’s continental “Manifest Destiny” was successfully completed in
geographic terms, that the “frontier” had been closed by Euro-American
expansion into every part of this nation; and 2) Social Darwinism, which posited that cultures battled with
each other in an evolutionary contest in which one was destined to triumph and the other to fade into
extinction.
Curtis set out to visit every tribe, often seeking help from experts in the area ranging from trained scholars to
locals who knew the barely traversed paths to the home territories of the smaller tribes. Wanting to document
Native Americans’ traditional ways of life, he not only recorded their lifestyles and activities, but also often
staged scenes and events, for which he would be much criticized later. Nonetheless, Curtis’s contribution is
almost immeasurable: he made 10,000 wax cylinder recordings of Indian languages and music, took more than
40,000 photographs from over 80 tribes, and wrote volumes about their mythology, history, traditional foods,
dwellings, clothing, games, ceremonies, burial customs, and an incredible array of other anthropological
information. So well-known did he become that tribes he photographed named him “Shadow Catcher”.
When he finally published volume 20 of this massive undertaking in 1930, Curtis suffered a physical and
nervous breakdown, worn out by the financial and artistic difficulties he faced in completing his self-imposed
task. It was not a success: fewer than 300 sets of The North American Indian were sold. When he died in 1952,
Curtis was virtually unknown. Only recently has his work become respected as the tour de force it was. Not
only is it an amazing accumulation of images and research, but also Curtis’s considerable photographic gifts
make his images more than simple records. For example, Professor Mick Gidley of the University of Leeds in
England reports of Curtis’s portrait of Lakota warrior Two Strike:. . . it does enable the viewer to see Two
Strike, in his “vital” old age, as the authoritative figure he must have been. He looks slightly downward, as
many of Curtis’ elderly subjects do, this vantage accentuating his wistful gaze, but the camera lights and
confirms the physical strength of his bone structure and, metaphorically, hints at his inner fortitude.
--E.A.
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
DID YOU KNOW?
In the 20th century, Ansel Adams became famous for his stunning images of the Rocky
Mountains and other western scenes. The first photographers, however, to awe and amaze
folks back east with images of the American West were working a century earlier. Two of
the most important were Carleton Eugene Watkins (1829 – 1916), whose photographs
inspired Albert Bierstadt to visit the Yosemite Valley, and Eliza W. Withington (1825 –
1877), who provided not only stunning landscapes and poignant portraits, but also offered
historians a detailed pictorial history of life in early mining camps.
Nineteenth-century photographers had a much harder time of it than their 20th-century
counterparts. In Withington’s article, “How a Woman Makes Landscape Photographs”, she
outlined the preparation necessary for one of these photographic journeys:
On such trips I take enough negative bath to fill the tub twice, or more, a pound and a
half of collodion, and about eighty plates . . .I have a box just long enough to let my
Newell bath-tub fit in one side . . . in the bottom of which is a thick layer of cotton-batting
to absorb any leakages and break the jolts on contents of box, and some awful ones they
get . . .I use only iron and wooden developing and fixing trays . . . I pack a two-quart
bottle of negative bath, a pound bottle of collodion, a pound bottle of developer, a pound
Eliza Withington
bottle of fixing bath, a collodion pouring bottle, one of negative varnish, a small vial each
1825-1877
of ammonia, nitric and acetic acid, alcoholic pyrogallic intensifier, bichloride of mercury
and alcohol, a small package each of iron and hyposulphite of soda, a small fluid or
Lucene oil-lamp, and a box of parlor matches. After all are packed, I turn over the top two rubber funnels . . . and all is
encased in a strong cloth sack with a carpet bottom and shirrstring in the top . . . My negative box holds thirty-two 5x8
plates, which are albumenized. I prepare about fifty more, and pack by laying out a thick, large sheet of white wrapping
paper. First lay on it a plate incased in a thin blotting paper twice its size . . . and continue to lay plates albumen side down,
and tissue or blotting paper between.
Her narrative goes on for several more paragraphs. All that equipment of course, had to be loaded into a covered wagon and
taken out and unloaded and prepared each time she elected to take a photograph. She also wore a “dark, thick dress skirt”
which served as a makeshift developing tent. She carried a “strong, black-linen cane-headed parasol” to shade the lenses,
and a walking stick for “climbing mountains and sliding into ravines”.
Born in New York City, Withington moved west with her husband in 1852. Apparently, the marriage was not successful, and
she returned east to study photography. By January of 1857 she had returned to the West and opened her own studio in Ione
City, California. For twenty years she captured images on the trail and in her California studio before succumbing to cancer
at age 51.
Watkins was far more famous than even the talented Withington, winning international acclaim for his photographs of
Yosemite, San Francisco, the Pacific coast, and other scenic venues. Best known for his mammoth plate photographs, he (as
well as Withington) issued the majority of his work on stereoviews. Born in Oneonta, New York, Watkins initially came
west as part of the California gold rush and was fortunate enough to travel with Collis Huntington, later one of the “Big
Four” owners of Central Pacific Railroad, and the photographer’s first employer. In 1854, he began working for Sacramento
photographer Robert Vance from whom he learned the techniques and processes he later perfected. By 1858 he was on his
own and in 1861, he traveled to Yosemite equipped with a mammoth plate camera, which used 18 by 22 inch glass plate
negatives, as well as a stereoscopic camera. The 30 mammoth plates he developed there made his reputation and helped
influence Congress to pass legislation protecting Yosemite Valley. In the meantime, the 100 stereoscopic images he captured
during the same trip circulated around the country and began the process of making the Valley a prominent tourist attraction.
Watkins continued to travel throughout the West, taking award-winning photographs. Unfortunately, he was not a good
businessman, losing his first set of negatives in 1875 to a creditor, and forcing him to rebuild his inventory by revisiting the
same locations and taking new shots. He finally married at age 50, choosing the 22-year-old Frances Sneade as his bride.
Unfortunately, his eyesight began to deteriorate and then the earthquake of 1906 destroyed his studio along with all his
negatives. When he died at 1916, little of his life’s work remained. Fortunately, because of their popularity, many of his
prints exist today, allowing us to enjoy his stunning visions of the American West.
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--E.A.
INFORMATION, PLEASE:
Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
Restoring and Preserving Old Photographs
First of all, get them out of that old cardboard box in the attic, and remove them
from old albums or envelopes. All these paper products contain chemicals that
can stain your images yellow and make them brittle. Drastic temperature changes
that can take place in attics and basements are also sources of damage. Dampness
can lead to the growth of mold, which will literally eat the photographic
emulsions that make up the image of your pictures.
If they’ve already been damaged, a professional restorer can help. This may
involve chemical and physical restoration of the original photograph, an exacting
(and often expensive) process best left in the hands of an expert. However,
thanks to modern computer technology, experts may create restored copies of the original photograph
somewhat less expensively. If you’re handy with a computer, you can also make repairs with various programs
intended for that purpose.
If your photographs are undamaged, what steps should you take to make sure your descendants don’t face these
problems? First (and it’s amazing how many of us forget this step), identify the subject of the photograph. (I’m
fortunate to have many family photographs dating from the 19th century, however I can’t identify the persons
portrayed.) Purchase a proper permanent marker from a photo supply store, and gently write the identifying
information (which should include the date the picture was taken) on the back of the photograph. Try to avoid
touching the image side. The same oils in our fingers that can damage paintings and patinas will also transfer to
the photograph and attract dirt and mold spores. When working with photos extensively, it’s worth investing in
a pair of light cotton gloves.
One of the worst enemies of photographs is the so-called “magnetic” photo albums. These introduce three
major problems. First, the cardboard backing is acidic, which causes photographic paper to deteriorate. Second,
the adhesive that holds the photos in place is also acidic. In time his makes the back stick permanently, which
eliminates the chance to check identification on the back and, when you need to remove them, the photograph
as well. Third, the plastic cover contains polyvinyl chloride (PVC), which releases gases that cause
photographs to fade, wrinkle, and adhere to the plastic. In short, these photo albums are death sentences for
your pictures.
To store photographs, avoid glue, tape, staples, rubber bands and paper clips, all of which can cause stains,
scratches, tears, and dents. Use only acid-free wood and paper products. Definitely use acid-free matts with
your framed photographs so that the image side does not touch the glass. Acid-free backboards can help as
well. Other safe ways to preserve them include special plastic sleeves without PVC, which can be purchased at
photo supply stores, or even plastic sandwich bags (much less expensive and also PVC-free). For large
numbers of large photos, it’s best to layer them between sheets of 100 percent cotton bond acid-free paper and
place them in metal or acid-free cardboard boxes (acid-free archival boxes can be purchased from several
specialty art and photography stores).
If you take these steps, your family will be sharing beautiful vistas, happy memories, and accurate information
for generations to come.
--E.A.
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Around the Gallery August 2010, vol. 2, issue 8
EDUCATIONAL TOURS, PROGRAMS AND PROJECTS
FIRST SATURDAY TOURS
Regularly scheduled tours are offered on the first
Saturday of every month at 2 p.m. No reservation
is required for these First Saturday Tours. Groups
of 10 or more are asked to call ahead so
preparations may be made to accommodate the
group on these particular tours. All tours, like
admission to the Gallery, are free to the public. The
next First Saturday Tour: Sunset Tour will be on
August 7 at 2 p.m.
SATURDAY SPEAKER SERIES
One Saturday each month, the Norton will host a local,
regional, or national expert speaking on a variety of
subjects in formats ranging from formal presentations to
informal seminars to walking tours. Upcoming speakers
will cover a broad range of subjects including gardening,
popular literature and film, influential historical and
cultural figures, musical history and interpretation, and
food in art.
All events are free to the public.
GROUP TOURS
Eighteen group tours are offered at the Norton
ranging from the 19th Century French Art History
Tour to the Cowboy Artists Tour. Group tours are
available by appointment year-round for groups of
10-30 and last approximately 45 minutes.
The next Saturday Speaker will be Reggie McLeroy on
August 21st at 2 p.m. He will host
an artist talk about his life and works..
ORAL HISTORY PROJECT
The R.W. Norton Art Foundation is pursuing interviews
with veterans of World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert
Storm, and Iraq and Afghanistan. Also of interest are
individuals who were involved in Louisiana’s civil rights
struggle, and those who gave the state and the city of
Shreveport its musical and artistic heritage. Each
interview will be digitally recorded by the Gallery to be
stored and used for historical purposes, and each
interview subject will also be given a copy of this
recording to share and preserve his or her memories for
family and friends.
OUTREACH PROGRAM
The purpose of the community Outreach Program is
to take art and art education to people through
interactive presentations. Community Presentations
consist of PowerPoint presentations to civic groups
and assisted living facilities.
For more information on the programs offered
or to schedule a tour or presentation, you may
call 318-865-4201, ext. 100.
If you are interested in participating in or
would like some more information about
the Oral History Project, you may call 318-865-4201 or
visit the Gallery’s website at www.rwnaf.org.
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITIES
Volunteer placement, whether docent or intern,
requires an application followed by an interview
and an orientation/training session. To apply,
email [email protected] to request an application, or
contact our Tour and Special Events Coordinator
Jen DeFratis at 318-865-4201, ext. 100.
GALLERY LOCATION AND HOURS:
4747 Creswell Avenue
Shreveport, LA 71106
318-865-4201
www.rwnaf.org
Tuesday through Friday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Saturday and Sunday 1 - 5 p.m.
Closed Mondays and National Holidays
SUGGESTIONS AND IDEAS?
To offer us feedback or suggestions,
please email [email protected]
or visit us on Facebook: Norton Art Gallery
Copyright © 2010 by R. W. Norton Art Gallery
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