December 17, 2003
Photos focus of Dennos exhibit
'The Thing Itself: Daguerreotype to Digital' on display until March
By Carol South
Herald contributing writer
From photo montage to stereograph, gelatin silver prints to digital images, the new exhibit at the Dennos Museum tells the story of photography's evolution - both as an art and a medium.
Entitled The Thing Itself: Daguerreotype to Digital, the exhibit features approximately 120 works from public and private collections around the state. Contributing museums include the Detroit Institute of Arts, The Kresge Art Museum at Michigan State University, the University of Michigan Art Museum and the Kalamazoo Institute of Art. In addition, guest curator Peter Mann of Traverse City culled photographs from the private collection of A.G. Edwards and other private collectors in the state.
"It was of course quite exciting to have access to those collections and make choices and find the splendid cooperation," said Mann, a museum volunteer and avid collector of photography.
The Thing Itself opened on December 6 and runs through March 7, 2004. The exhibit also launches the Dennos Museum on a mission to build up its photography collection.
"Actually, we have three showcased pieces in the show that are gifted to the museum, promised gifts, and that's very exciting," said Kathleen Buday, curator of education and interpretation for the Dennos Museum. "That will add to our already impressive collection."
Buday noted that the exhibit takes a wide-ranging approach to the history and practice of photography.
"It is just an incredible survey of the art and history of photography and I think it is one of the most all-encompassing shows that certainly have been shown in the state," Buday noted. "We are very proud to have such high caliber photographs in the museum, there are some incredible images."
Mann has been captivated by the art and technique of photography for more than 30 years. He noted that the exhibit grew out of informal discussions he and executive director Eugene Jenneman have had over the years about expanding the museum's photography collection.
"The museum has a fine Inuit art collection and it appears that the museum has wanted to collect other things," Mann said. "We had conversations about building a collection on photography and that the museum would take an active role in encouraging the local public to perceive and understand photography."
When this exhibit was approved, Mann began sifting and sorting through photographs, looking to tell the story of photography in this country. Photography burst onto the scene in 1839, he noted, nearly overnight making images accessible to people in all walks of life, not just the rich. Techniques and style quickly evolved into an art form and Mann created the exhibit to tell the story of this evolution.
He also wanted to highlight the social impact that photography has had in the United States. The exhibit includes a few foreign photographs, but the bulk of the pieces are of domestic scenes. They document life in this country ranging from a sharecropper's home to a drive-in movie, from a freeway overpass to stunning nature scenes. Photographers in the exhibit include Ansel Adams, Edward Weston and Annie Leibovitz.
"The exhibit also undertakes to reflect the different uses to which photography has been put, such as documentaries, journalism, science and portraiture, both formal and informal," Mann said. "It records the social history in this country."