Richard Misrach was born in
Los Angeles in 1949 and is often credited as being one of the forerunners in
the renaissance of colour photography and large scale representation since the
1970s. Much of his work deals with what he describes as “the collision between
man and nature”. In 1997 Misrach began a
project from the porch of his home on a steep Berkeley hill in San Francisco
with his 8 x 10 camera. This work took
place over a three year period in which time Misrach captured over seven
hundred images of the vista beyond his porch which encapsulated the Golden Gate
Bridge and the adjacent topography. Images
of the bridge in all states of visibility, luminosity and atmospheric
conditions were recorded from a single vantage point at all times of day and
night as well as encompassing the seasons of the year.
The series shows the diminutively
scaled bridge in the distance in a multitude of conditions. Each frame displays a strip of land and sea
oppressed beneath a vast sky. We see
iconic images of a global landmark in San Francisco Bay portrayed in flaming
orange sunsets as well as being overshadowed by rolling storm clouds passing
over head or even obliterated from view as incoming storm systems engulf the
structure within their mighty form, leaving the viewer alone with the
surrounding hillsides. Misrach captures
the Golden Gate Bridge in its celebrated as well as lesser seen states. Sometimes the bridge is an eloquent silhouette,
sometimes glistening in the sunlight while other times faint and shrouded in
mist or cloud. Each frame displays an extraordinary
spectrum of light and colour. Each frame is unique. Each frame is beautiful.
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| Richard Misrach - Golden Gate Bridge (1997-2000) |
Misrach’s photographs have
previously been compared with landscape paintings of the past. His images of the Golden Gate Bridge have
been compared to the paintings of Mark Rothko and Albert Bierstadt, his
repetitive approach to subject matter likened to Cézanne, or to Monet’s
depiction of Rouen Cathedral at different times of the year. It must be noted however that Misrach’s
concern’s are rooted further beyond the sheer physical beauty of the scene
extending out beyond his porch. His Golden
Gate exhibition included a publication in which Misrach notes what is not
apparent in his photographs is "privileged
position high up in the peaceful, well-to-do, sylvan Berkeley hills." He
states that "to own a view is as much about property values as it is about
ocular pleasures." What
makes the series of images more powerful for Misrach is the perspective from
Berkeley.
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| Claude Monet - Rouen Cathedral (1890s) |
The photographic series
offers a commentary on the politics of the view from this particular place in
San Francisco, the relationship of wealth, power and privilege at this time as
is particularly highlighted when the bridge is obscured from sight by
atmospheric conditions and the eye is drawn to the island in the foreground
that once housed a prison as well as the luxurious dwellings dotted along the
hillside. One of the recurring themes in
Misrach’s works since the early 1980s is that of the “altered landscape” or the
condition of aesthetic beauty of the natural world as mediated by human intervention
in the landscape as he tries to “reconcile my interests” in topographical and political
landscapes. In this instance Misrach treasures
this vista as he believes humans have affected the environment in a positive
manner.
“I love it.
It’s beautiful to look at, its scale. Everything about it was just
magnificently done”
Misrach
Misrach not only photographs
the content occupying the frame. In an
interview with Peter Brown, he outlines the great lengths he goes to in making
formally engaging pictures, “I pay attention to the frame, to the light, etc.
I've always felt that the best of my pictures function in a way that historical
painting used to… just as Gericault's Raft of the Medusa was both a remarkable
visual experience, it also embodies a specific political event”.
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| Gericault - The Raft of the Medusa (1819) |
Joseph Mallord William
Turner was born in London in 1775 during the Neoclassical period that saw him
trained academically in painting and drawing.
However, it was not long before Turner began to adopt a style of his own
and he spent the rest of his life developing this looser style, pulling away
from the Neoclassical norms of depicting historical events in great detail,
choosing instead a Romantic approach based on emphasised luminosity and
atmosphere. Turner relentlessly studied
nature and light and stripped both aspects of representation back to their
basic forms. It was during his extensive
travels that the main inspiration for many of his greatest works
germinated. While travelling throughout
the British Isles and mainland Europe, he fervently recorded what he saw in
writing, drawing and painting. His tour
of France and Switzerland alone resulted in more than 400 drawings from which
he later drew information and inspiration from to create magnificent landscape
paintings. Over five decades Turner
relied on these sketchbooks to inform even his most abstracted paintings. Upon his death in 1851, Turner left almost
30,000 pieces of his work to the British Nation.
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| JMW Turner Sketchbooks |
During his career, Turner
progressively paid less attention to detail in his paintings and focused more on
the effects of light and colour as achieved through his self developed use of
watercolour and oil paints. The result
was truly magnificent with images increasingly immersed in strategically selected
light and atmospheric conditions.
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| JMW Turner - The Slave Ship (1840) |
