After I finished seeing the two exhibits at the Boston Museum of Fine Arts I had lunch in the cafeteria, then hightailed it to the small town of Andover, MA. About a thirty-five minute drive and I showed up in time to take a leisurely stroll through the Addison Gallery of American Arts located on the beautiful grounds of the famous Phillips Academy.  The public schools I attended growing up didn’t have a gallery housing more than 18,000 works by some of the most prominent American painters and photographers! That’s all right, I survived and am now happy to have found this incredible gem!!!

Contemplating the View: American Landscape Photographs is a great show and in many ways was as much of a surprise for me as the Graciela Iturbide’s Mexico exhibit.  The show contained more than 150 photographs from the museum’s large photography collection and included an incredible and what might seem to be an unlikely cross section of great American photographers. Highlights included images by landscape masters Wynn Bullock, Mark Klett, William Garnett, Robert Adams, Alvin Langdon Corburn, Alfred Steiglitz, Edward Weston, Minor White, Harry Callahan, Ansel Adams, Ralph Steiner, Sonya Noskowiak, Aaron Siskind, Eliot Porter, Richard Misrach, Lois Conner, Frank Gohlke, Lewis Baltz and John Willis, but also unexpected work by Bill Owens, Elliott Erwitt, Lee Friedlander, Robert Frank, John Szarkowski and Roger Minick.

As was the case with the Boston Museum of Fine Arts show, I had the opportunity to see some landscape favorites produced in smaller sizes, like Ansel Adams Mount McKinley. There were others such as Wynn Bullock’sStark Tree and Harry Callahan’sSunlight on Water. Then there was a truly unexpected and beautiful photograph by Elliot Erwitt, Church at Wounded Knee. That is just one example of the many surprises awaiting you if you can get to this great show before it closes on March 3rd. And guess what … admission is free!!!

Not sure three exhibits and almost seven hundred miles driving in one day is for everyone, but it was a memorable and inspiring day I will always cherish.