So last week my wife and I had a pleasant visit to the Michener Art Museum to see a very interesting show, Through the Lens: Modern Photography in the Delaware Valley, made all the more interesting because pretty much we had the entire museum to ourselves! Another artifact of the pandemic I guess. The Michener had been closed for some time, but just recently opened for by appointment only visits. We both felt grateful to be able to actually get out and see something of real interest instead of the grocery store or post office. So it was nice to meander slowly through the exhibit. And since it was just the two of us, it enabled me to wax poetically about whatever photograph struck me in a particular way without embarrassing myself in front of others (I’m always looking for little silver linings during this terrible time!).
The show focused on 70 years of work by photographers that lived in the Delaware Valley and included approximately 100 images drawn from the Michener’s collection. The great photographers featured in the show I was familiar with included Paula Chamlee, Michael Smith, Edmond Eckstein, Larry Fink, Emmett Gowin, Ray Metzker, Stephen Perloff and Charles Sheeler. It was especially wonderful to see photographs made by Monalog Collective member Edmund Eckstein, as well as those by Paula Chamlee, Michael Smith and Stephen Perloff, who I’ve had the good fortune to come to know. Through the Lens had it all, from street photography to classic landscapes, in black and white and color.
If you happen to go, some of my favorites were Paula Chamlee’s 8 x10 Azo contact prints From the Series High Plains Farm, Adrian Texas, 1995 and Kjalkjordur, Iceland; Michael Smith’s 8 x20 Azo contact print Bucks County; Edmund Eckstein’s See You Tomorrow Mom, From Doylestown Hospital Series, Basic Training, Ft. Jackson, South Carolina, and Hyde Park, London, UK; Stephen Guion’s Dwelling House, Bedroom Window; Andrea Baldeck’s Hunger in the Stomach; Emmett Gowin’s Edith and Isaac, Newtown; Claus Mroczynski’s White House, Canyon de Chelly, NM AZ; Stephen Perloff’s Benjamin Franklin Bridge; Jack Rosen’s Slabs for Homes, Levittown, PA; and Ray Metzker’s Pictus Interruptis: Philadelphia, Spring Tingle. 1980.
The Michener is a true gem and I’m only two minutes away by car, or twenty minutes by leisurely walk. You might say I’m lucky. Really lucky because I stumbled onto Doylestown by accident and then found the museum. The deal was struck after driving up from Virginia to see a gorgeous Edward Weston exhibit with my son about ten years ago. We sold our house shortly thereafter, made the move, and I‘ve never looked back.
We need to be grateful for places like the Michener, and for local galleries and other organizations that support art. Covid-19 driven isolation has helped to make that clear to me. I’m lucky to be an active member of several outstanding organizations here in Bucks County and Philadelphia. Now more than ever we need to be connected with photography in whatever ways we can. Being out there and making pictures is best, but seeing great photographs made by great photographers, as well as great art in general is so important. If we can’t see the work in person, viewing online exhibits is the next best thing. Do it and be a part of it!
The Michener show was a real treat. I urge you to see it if you’re nearby and feel it’s safe to do so. Through the Lens: Modern Photography in the Delaware Valley runs through August 15th.
Stay safe,
Michael