Roger Fenton, "All the Mighty World", at the Met
A common rule of thumb is that it takes upwards of ten years to master a given activity. 19th century British photographer Roger Fenton spent just ten years as a master photographer in a full range of genres before mysteriously putting away his camera forever and retiring from the art to be a lawyer. "All the Mighty World", the travelling Fenton show assembled in a partnership between the Met, the Getty and the National Gallery, is now showing at the Met. The photographs shown cover the full range of Fenton's career, not just his well-known war photography.
The Times has published it's review, which focuses on the frustrations Fenton felt in photography's slow acceptance as art, something only realized in the last few decades. Modern Art Notes' Tyler Green reviewed the show when it was at the National Gallery.
Tomorrow, I will do my best to get to the Met for the gallery talk with photography curator Malcolm Daniel, one of the show's curators. The talk starts at 11am and will be held again on June 2nd and 30th. I discovered this morning that I misread the info and this gallery talk was yesterday! Even worse, I found this out as I was standing at the tour collection point and heard the guide say "Now then, we'll be visitng several galleries in our tour of the Spanish Renaissance.." Argh!
The Library of Congress has an extensive collection of Fenton's Crimea War photographs, all digitized in hi-resolution format. Download and print your own "Valley of the Shadow of Death"!
Through August 21 at the Metropolitan Museum of Art
1000 5th Ave (at 82nd St)
212-535-7710
