"New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape" was a groundbreaking exhibition of contemporary landscape photography held at the George Eastman House's International Museum of Photography (Rochester, New York) from October 1975 to February 1976. [1] The show, curated by William Jenkins, had a lasting impact on aesthetic and conceptual approaches to American landscape photography.[2] The New Topographics photographers, including Robert Adams,[3]Lewis Baltz,[4]Bernd and Hilla Becher, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, and Stephen Shore,[5] documented built and natural landscapes in America, often capturing the tension between natural scenery and the mundane structures of post-war America: parking lots, suburban homes, crumbling coal mines. The photographs, stark and documentary, are often devoid of human presence. Jenkins described the images as "neutral" in style, "reduced to an essentially topographic state, conveying substantial amounts of visual information but eschewing entirely the aspects of beauty, emotion, and opinion".[6]
Each photographer in the New Topographics exhibition was represented by ten prints. All but Stephen Shore worked in black and white. The prints were in a 20 cm × 25 cm (8 in × 10 in) format except for Joe Deal (32 cm × 32 cm), Gohlke (24 cm × 24 cm – close to 8 in × 10 in though obviously square rather than rectangular), and the Bechers with typical European (for the time) 30 cm × 40 cm prints.[9]
In his introduction to the catalogue, Jenkins defined the common denominator of the show as "a problem of style:" "stylistic anonymity", an alleged absence of style. Jenkins mentioned Edward Ruscha's work, especially the numerous artist books (26 Gasoline Stations (1962), Various Small Fires (1964), 34 Parking Lots (1967), etc.) that he self-published in the 1960s as one of the inspirations for the exhibition and the photographers it features (except for the Bechers).[10]
Technically, half the photographers were working with 8 in × 10 in (20 cm × 25 cm) large format view cameras; those who were not were using either square medium format (Deal, Gohlke), or in the case of Baltz, 35 mmTechnical Pan, a slow and high-definition Kodak film that the photographer printed on 8 in × 10 in paper. Only Baltz and Wessel were using regular 35 mm cameras and film. A notable element of the show was that the artists were, or would be, linked with higher education as students, professors, or both—a change from the preceding generations.[citation needed] The shift from craft or self-teaching to academia had somewhat been started by photographers such as Ansel Adams and Minor White, but the new generation was turning away from the approach of these forebears. This was illustrated by the subject matter that the New Topographics chose as well as their commitment to casting a somewhat ironic or critical eye on what American society had become. They all depicted urban or suburban realities under changes in an allegedly detached approach. In most cases, they gradually revealed themselves as coming from rather critical vantage points, especially Robert Adams, Baltz, and Deal.[citation needed]
Although the eight photographers included in the original exhibition make up the core of the New Topographics school, photographers such as Laurie Brown have been tied to the school.[12]
References
^Jenkins, William. New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape. Catalogue. Rochester, NY: International Museum of Photography at the George Eastman House, 1975.