F E AT U R E
Autophotography exposed to Modernism, whether the work had a
guest lectures by Albert Einstein, Clement Greenberg,
connection to New Mexico or not. Although only twenty
and William Carlos Williams. Musician John Cage, dancer
artists are represented in this beautifully designed book,
Merce Cunningham, and artist Robert Rauschenberg
some of them are extensively covered, like Hartley and
collaborated, while the last was a student there, on
Davis; it would be a work by the latter, acquired in Santa
what many call the first “happening.” Poets abounded,
Fe, which would constitute the beginning of the Vilcek’s
husbands and wives fought, and Buckminster Fuller
commitment to American Modernism. The book also
created the first geodesic dome at Black Mountain.
includes a brilliant in-depth essay by William Agee,
Tracing its inception as a very liberal arts college to
“Perspectives on Modern Art in America,” that provides
its closure—due to debt—Black Mountain College:
a thoughtful analysis of the evolution of Modernism and
Experiment in Art (MIT Press, $40) contains essays by
its impact on twentieth-century art. —D.A.
Martin Brody, Robert Creeley, Vincent Katz, and Kevin Power, and ends, fittingly, with three poems about the college’s demise. Here is the last line of Creeley’s ode: “And what the hell else to say but run.” —K.M.D.
Axle Contemporary
Kodak stopped production of Kodachrome—considered to be the best color slide film ever made—in 2009. Since the fifteenth century, artists from painters to sculptors
When making photographs with the film, there was one
to photographers have modeled for themselves in their
exact exposure—all others made the slides too light or
own works of art. Whatever the reason, nearly every
too dark. As the story goes, Kodachrome was the film
artist in every medium has attempted this explanation
of choice of National Geographic photographers, who
of self. Since 2010, Axle Contemporary—a moveable
exposed for the highlights, while shooting at a third of a
art gallery in a retrofitted 1970 step van—has exhibited
stop down in order to achieve greater saturation, giving
drawings, paintings, installations, and photography.
their photographs added presence. Enter Nathan Benn.
This year Axle invited more than eighty photographers working in New Mexico to submit self-portraits for an exhibition. The resulting book Autophotography (Axle Contemporary, $25) is designed with photographs on the right-hand pages and the photographer’s name on the facing page. Many of New Mexico’s best-known photographers are included: William Clift, Gay Block, Willis
Oh, to have been a fly on the wall at Black Mountain
F. Lee, Nic Nicosia, Baron Wolman, Zoe Zimmerman, Will
College in its heyday! A Bauhausian effort with a
Wilson, Janet Russek, Herb Lotz, Anne Staveley, Meridel
distinctly American rowdiness, the college was located
Rubenstein, and David Michael Kennedy. The stimulating
in the mountains of North Carolina, east of Asheville.
images showcase the many possibilities of self-portraiture.
During its twenty-three years of existence, from
Some photographers posed in costume, some in the
1933 to 1956, it served as a magnet for an incredible
nude, some against unusual backgrounds, and some in
community of artists. Teachers included Josef Albers,
other imaginative ways. Self-portraiture does come with
Robert Motherwell, and Willem de Kooning. There were
a thorny set of questions. Who will see the photograph? Why does that matter? And what does the photographer hope to get out of the process? In fifty or a hundred years, the visual journey in Autophotography will be seen as a time capsule of this specific time in New Mexico.—G.C. The heart of this splendid book Masterpieces of American
While on the job for National Geographic for twenty years,
Modernism From the Vilcek Collection (Merrell, $85) is
Benn made many personal photographs of America in
embedded in the art done in America in the first four
the 1970s and ’80s. In Kodachrome Memory: American
decades of the twentieth century. There is some later
Pictures 1972-1990 (Powerhouse Books, $50) each and
work represented in the Vilcek Collection but the sum
every photograph tells a story, while showcasing Benn’s
and substance of it was culled from the first waves of
visual intelligence. Benn’s choice of subject matter, paired
modern art done by iconic practitioners such as Stuart
with his exquisite sense of composition, is a treat for the
Davis, Marsden Hartley, Arthur Dove, and Georgia
eyes. Add an astute forward by Richard Buckley, an essay
O’Keeffe. A fascinating aspect of the art that Jan and
by Paul M. Farber—a scholar of American and Urban
Marcia Vilcek acquired is that they were inspired to begin
Studies—who discusses Benn’s life and photographs
collecting by repeated visits to Santa Fe and becoming
DECEMBER/JANUARY
2013/14
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