The New York Times
December 7, 1986
A PHOTO SHOW OUT OF HISTORY AND THE EAST END
By STEWART KAMPEL
IN a departure from its usual showing of paintings and sculpture, the Vered Gallery in East Hampton has unveiled an exhibition entitled ''Masterworks by 19th-and 20th-Century Photographers.''
The works, selected by the photograph dealer Janet Lehr, include classic compositions by well-known figures in the history of photography and representative selections from 10 East End residents, some of whom are better known for their paintings and drawings than for their photography.
''I picked this colorful still life with flowers by Audrey Flack, who is primarily noted for her photo-realistic canvases,'' Mrs. Lehr said. ''Here it appears to be different, embodying a more direct perspective.''
''Look at this photo by Chuck Close of Richard Serra, the minimal artist,'' Mrs. Lehr continued. ''All the gridding is superficial to the photo. It's a great portrait, even if you don't know the subject.''
Actually, Mrs. Lehr said, the viewer learns a great deal about the subject, which is a head-on view, taken from an angle slightly below the chin. ''Look at the hair, which is unruly, the shape of the lips, the clothing he's wearing. This is more than a portrait.''
The photograph of Mr. Serra was taken in 1969, long before he became a figure of controversy for his sculpture that was removed last year from Federal Plaza in New York City and his assemblages of bricks that critics praised as serious works of art but that public officials and others derided.
''Richard,'' the working sketch for Mr. Close's painting of the same name, along with most of the 51 works on display, is for sale. One portrait that is not for sale is by Toba Tucker of Southampton, who has been photographing the Shinnecock Indians for the last few years. Miss Tucker's work, made in 1984, shows a view of Edward Gumbs that conveys the strength of ''a monumental tribal figure,'' Mrs. Lehr said.
To say these works are by ''locals would be misleading,'' Mrs. Lehr added. ''There are photographers here with very original eyes, like Val Telberg, who is 84 and whose work has not had much exposure.''
She also singled out a photograph by Joyce Baronio of a nude couple caked in leaves and mud that is one of the more erotic prints in the show; a well-thought-out study by Ann Chwatsky of a pregnant woman seated on a round sofa that carries out the curves of the composition; a series of cut-out photographs by Howard Kanovitz that served as a study for a major painting in 1964 that is of interest, Mrs. Lehr said, ''as a thought process,'' and works by Robert Giard, taken at the Southampton Golf Course, and by Dorothy Beskind that show her ''need to demonstrate her inner self.''
A small odalisque by Warren Brandt took an entire box of photographic paper to achieve the right balance of light and dark, Mrs. Lehr said. It hangs unadorned, along with rare early photographs, some in sepia tones, one of which, by David Octavius Hill and Robert Adamson, dates to 1844.
''I wanted to demonstrate to people who had little background in this field what the photographic esthetic is,'' Mrs. Lehr said. ''These pictures are not hung chronologically or by subject matter. And they do look better without glass.''
Among the early masters is an 1865 print by Henry Peach Robinson that the photographer made by cutting out at least three separate negatives and imposing them on the landscape; a picture of Mrs. Ewen Cameron by Julia Margaret Cameron, done in 1867, that shows a fresh response to portraiture; works by Edward Steichen, Man Ray, Eugene Atget, Edward Weston, Margaret Bourke-White, Moholy-Nagy and Alfred Stieglitz, and the compelling - and classic - ''Father and Son in a Dust Storm'' by Arthur Rothstein, taken in Oklahoma in 1936.
Of special interest is are photographs of the same giant tree, in Mariposa Grove, Yosemite Valley. One was taken in 1865 by Carlton E. Watkins, the other in 1872 by Eadweard Muybridge.
The show, which will be on view Fridays through Mondays from 12 to 5 P.M. at the Vered Gallery, 68 Park Place, until Dec. 19, is a benefit for the East Hampton Media Center, known as LTV. Frazer Dougherty, who supervises the community-access activities of the facility, said that a number of East End artists had executed works on a computer-graphic device and that they were for sale to benefit the media center.
