Emmet Gowin: Photographs on View at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

Kansas City, MO. June 23, 2015

Exhibition Explores Wonder of Everyday, Majesty of Nature

Emmet Gowin, American (b. 1941). Edith, Danville, Virginia, 1971. Gelatin silver print (printed 1979), 8 x 9 15/16 inches. Gift of Hallmark Cards, Inc., 2005.27.1400.

The first exhibition in the region to outline the full scope of Emmet Gowin’s photographic career opens at The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City on July 1 and will be on view through Nov. 8. Emmet Gowin: Photographs includes a wide variety of subject matter and places, but is united by the intuitive logic of Gowin’s artistic vision and his respect for the natural environment.

“Emmet Gowin is one of the most important photographers of the past 50 years,” said Julián Zugazagoitia, Menefee D. and Mary Louise Blackwell CEO & Director of the Nelson-Atkins. “He is both an artist and a teacher, and during his time at Princeton University he helped shape generations of young artists.”

Gowin first achieved art-world renown in the early 1970s for his intimate photographs of his wife Edith and her family in Danville, Virginia. Inspired by the simplicity of the amateur snapshot, these fresh and spontaneous photographs elevate the details of everyday life to the level of dream and myth. Honest, tender, and often humorous, they are personal yet universal reflections on the richness and complexity of family bonds. While Edith has remained an important subject, Gowin’s interests grew to include the landscape, deep cultural time, and the traces of human activity on the face of the

earth. Through the logic of his creative vision, these varied subjects unite to form a richly original artistic whole.

“Gowin is interested in the wonder of the everyday, the sublimity of both human history and the natural world, and the rich diversity of life,” said Keith F. Davis, Senior Curator, Photography. “His pictures honor the past while exploring classic themes in a fresh and deeply personal way.”

Emmet Gowin, American (b. 1941). Sedan Crater, Northern End of Yucca Flat, Nevada Test Site, 1996. Gelatin silver print (printed 2003), 14 3/16 × 14 inches. Gift of the Hall Family Foundation, 2014.12.25.

Gowin’s technical expertise serves a consistently poetic purpose. The optical precision of his work, and his darkroom skills in printing and toning, further his expressive aims. Some of Gowin’s photographs are circular–made with a lens designed for a smaller format camera. By this technique, Gowin invites viewers to take a privileged glimpse, as if through a peephole, into his private world.

An influential figure in the history of photography, Emmet Gowin was born in 1941 in Danville, VA. He received an MFA in Photography from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1967. While there, he studied with photographer Harry Callahan, who, along with Frederick Sommer, became one of his mentors and greatest influences.

Gowin is the recipient of numerous honors, including a Guggenheim Fellowship (1974), two National Endowment for the Arts Fellowships (1977, 1979), a Pew Fellowship in the Arts (1993), the President’s Award for Distinguished Teaching at Princeton University (1997), and the Princeton Behrman Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Humanities (2006). For more than four decades, Gowin’s work has been widely exhibited in the U.S. and abroad. Throughout his entire career, his artistic goal has remained the same: to use the camera to explore the mystery and poetic resonance of what is everywhere around us.

On Thursday, Oct. 22, Emmet Gowin will be in conversation with Keith Davis in Atkins Auditorium from 6–7 p.m. Davis will give a talk in the exhibition on Friday, Aug. 28, from 7–8 p.m. Tickets are free but must be reserved at www.nelson-atkins.org/.

This exhibition is supported by the Hall Family Foundation and the Campbell-Calvin Fund and Elizabeth C. Bonner Charitable Trust.

The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art

The Nelson-Atkins in Kansas City is recognized nationally and internationally as one of America’s finest art museums. The Nelson-Atkins serves the community by providing access and insight into its renowned collection of more than 35,000 art objects and is best known for its Asian art, European and American paintings, photography, modern sculpture, and new American Indian and Egyptian galleries. Housing a major art research library and the Ford Learning Center, the Museum is a key educational resource for the region. The institution-wide transformation of the Nelson-Atkins has included the 165,000-square-foot Bloch Building expansion and renovation of the original 1933 Nelson-Atkins Building.

The Nelson-Atkins is located at 45th and Oak Streets, Kansas City, MO. Hours are Wednesday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Thursday/Friday, 10 a.m.–9 p.m.; Saturday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m.; Sunday, 10 a.m.–5 p.m. Admission to the museum is free to everyone. For museum information, phone 816.751.1ART (1278) or visit nelson-atkins.org/.