1963-1983.
Emmet Gowin is one of the most original photographers of the last forty years and occupies a prominent position in the history of the photography of the second half of the twentieth century.The creation of an extensive body of original work has not prevented him from also providing an influential educational practice out of Princeton University, where he has offered instruction to several generations of artists. During his first decade as a photographer, Emmet Gowin worked with a 35 mm Leica and a 4” x 5” bellows camera. In the early 1970’s, a fortuitous incident led him to use the lens of his previous camera on an 8” x 10” camera, and this combination produced a number of circular images that suggested a new perspective full of secrecy and mystery. His early work is a series of everyday scenes, in which his wife Edith (whom he married in 1964) and members of his family play a major part. However, from beginning to end it was to be his wife who would be the main and most recurrent subject of his work. In these photographs we discover an artistic perspective founded on the power of communication between people who love and respect each other deeply, as well as an understanding of sexuality as part of nature itself, where the body is accepted in all possible conditions and functions.
Edith, Newtown (Pensilvania), 1974. Gelatin silver print. Photography © Emmet Gowin, cortesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.
Italy: 1975-1985.
Gowin’s taste for the nature surrounding him started to develop very early in his life. Influenced by the deeply religious education he received from a Methodist father and a Quaker mother, even as a child, Emmet Gowin connected with an understanding of the world where, rather than transcending to the divine, he was capable of revealing the presence of the sacred in nature.In the 1960’s, the artist started a body of work documenting landscapes, for which he undertook many trips around Europe, Asia and America. In this exhibition, a set of ten photographs from this period, taken in Italy between 1975 and 1985, will be on display.
Siena (Italy), 1975. Gelatin silver print. Photography © Emmet Gowin, cortesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.
Mount St. Helens: 1980-1984.
In 1980, one of the most catastrophic volcanic eruptions of the twentieth century, and the biggest ever in the United States, took place in Mount St. Helens, Washington.This event helped determine the direction Emmet Gowin’s career would take in the future. In order to document this volcanic devastation, Gowin chose to get involved in aerial photography and discovered his fascination for a perspective he had never before explored. From then on, he effected important works of aerial photography in different countries, and continued to do this for over twenty years.
Mount St. Helens (Washington),1980. Gelatin silver print. Photography © Emmet Gowin, cortesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.
Petra: 1982-1985.
«I saw Petra, and it connected with me in a profound way. Like something that I had seen in my father’s Bible, something I had always known, something about the first century. A life lived before our time.» (Emmet Gowin).
Through the pictures of Petra, the artist communicates his personal viewpoint. Far from seeing it as the ruins of an ancient kingdom, Emmet Gowin shares with the viewer his perception of a beauty which has the capacity to awaken a rich variety of memories and emotions in us.As far as technique is concerned, this series signified a qualitative leap in the image printing process Gowin had developed, as he was using chromatic alterations for the first time.
The Palace and Corinthian Tombs, Petra (Jordan), 1985. Gelatin silver print. Photography © Emmet Gowin, cortesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.
Aerial photographs: 1986-2012.
From 1986, Emmet Gowin began to direct particular attention, through aerial photography, to territories in the American Middle and Far West devastated by human actions, as well as in other countries such as Czechoslovakia. He documented Kansas irrigation circles consuming millions of litres of water despite not having it to spare, Nevada deserts that look like moonscapes because of nuclear tests, and open pit coal mines and power plants in Czechoslovakia polluting huge peripheral areas.Far from making a judgement about the environmental degradation provoked by human exploitation, Gowin reclaims the ability of art to redeem our destructive actions.His aerial photographs are truly surprising for their capacity to offer simultaneously both a descriptive and an abstract view of a landscape.
Alluvial Fan, natural Dreinage, near the Yuma Proving Ground and the Arizona and The California Border, 1988. Gelatin silver print. Photography © Emmet Gowin, cortesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.
Edith: 1980-2000.
«Although all creative work requires an encounter with the unknown, and a visitation to places we do not yet understand, making the images of Edith continues to be the central thread and redeeming experience within my life. It is, in large measure, the central poem within my work. These pictures are how I feel about the world», said the photographer.
This section brings together ten of the numerous portraits Gowin made of his wife, Edith, between 1980 and 2000, a small tribute to the person that that has probably most influenced his life and work.
Edith, Danville (Virginia), 1999. Gelatin silver print. Photography © Emmet Gowin, cortesy Pace/MacGill Gallery, New York.
Mariposas nocturnas. Edith in Panamá: 2001-2005.
Gowin has always been fascinated by insects and tropical biology. In order to compile an exhaustive catalogue of moths, he travelled to Latin America, where he worked for several years.Gowin always travelled with his wife. However, on this trip to tropical lands, Edith did not accompany him. As he worked, taking photographs and cataloguing butterflies and moths, he found a cut-out picture of his wife in his wallet, a piece of paper with her silhouette. The artist decided to incorporate this into his photographs, leading to a series of original creations, elaborated with some of the most innovative techniques of the artist’s career to date.
Organization.- Fundación Mapfre.
Location.- Avda. General Perón, 40. Madrid.
Venue.- Sala Azca.
Date.- from 29 May to 1 September.
Hour.- Monday 14:00 to 21:00, Tuesday to Saturday from 10:00 to 21:00 and Sundays and holidays from 12:00 to 20:00.
