From: Judy Seigel (jseigel@panix.com)
Date: 09/08/02-12:45:05 AM Z
On Sat, 7 Sep 2002, Cactus Cowboy wrote:
> ... My teenage niece, when being "forced" to visit Yellowstone
> National Park two years ago, declared "I hate nature".
So what did you say: "You don't know what you're talking about"?
And when you showed her Ansel Adams did she rush off to join the Sierra
Club?
> There's far more to landscape photography than "tweaks" in the darkroom as
> suggested in your snide dismissal of Adam's life work. Have you ever
> carried a 50 lb. backpack full of camera gear through 75 miles of
> wilderness? Have you ever watched the sunrise from a mountaintop? Ever
> stomped your feet repeatedly to prevent frostbite? Ever scrambled up rock
> ledges to escape a raging flash flood roaring down a canyon? Ever laid on
> your back to watch shooting stars as you swatted mosquitoes? Pulled cactus
> spines out of your sleeping bag? Listened to coyotes singing? I have. A
> world does exist beyond the west bank of the Hudson River. Too bad you've
> apparently experienced it only on calendar pages (without really
> appreciating it).
Dave dear, you're missing my point-- those things do not make art.
Although I'm not a camper, some of my friends and relatives are.
However, they none of them would claim that lying on your back and
swatting mosquitoes, or any of the rest, means *art.* True, it's their
idea of a good time, and I accept that it's your idea of a good time, but
you fail to make clear what any of that panegyric has got to do with art
-- one way or the other.
> I can only guess that Adam's great success and popularity is making you
> jealous, hence your 'put down' attitude towards his work.
Oi, a regular Sigmund Freud.
But in fact I am jealous of one photographer -- who made some pictures I'd
love to have made. I have in hand Anne Wilkes Tucker's book on Louis
Faurer. If I'd heard of Faurer before I began the project nearly 20 years
ago, I might not have dared start photographing Times Square. I hadn't, so
I did, and I'm glad, but some of his shots do incite envy.
The vision, for those who don't know him, is something like Robert
Frank's, they knew each other & both worked at -- I think it was Harpers
Bazaar, under Lieberman, and/or Fortune magazine -- but Faurer's vision
was (to my eye) more varied than Frank's and not sarcastic, but kind. He
wasn't ridiculing or mocking his subjects, he was loving them -- a
romantic, even sentimental filter.
He was, however, a difficult personality, or would surely have had more
fame in his lifetime. To me he's one of the truly greats. Anyway, Strand
had the book quite a bit off list price a couple of months ago. And if you
get it, or look at it, note page 88 -- "Freudian Handclasp." (Oh that
Freud -- he's everywhere.)
best regards,
Judy in NYC, about 4 blocks from Faurer's last home, Westbeth.
> Best regards,
> Dave in Wyoming
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