TACOMA, WA.- Tacoma Art Museum ’s new exhibition Veiled Northwest: Photographs by Mary Randlett presents forty-one of her black and white images of Northwest landscapes. Admired for her portrait work of Northwest artists and writers, Randlett’s landscape photography has been less well known. The Tacoma Art Museum presentation is the first such museum showing, focusing soley on her vision of the Northwest terrain. The exhibition occurs in conjunction with the release of the new book Mary Randlett Landscapes published by the University of Washington Press . Veiled Northwest is on view from September 1, 2007 to January 27, 2008.

This exhibition celebrates the first catalogue of Randlett’s landscape photography. Mary Randlett Landscapes pays homage to her vision. The volume brings together Randlett’s landscape photography and essays celebrating her work by Ted D’Arms, Barry Herem, Denise Levertov, Jo Ann Ridely, and Joyce Thompson. The monograph also includes seven Levertov poems inspired by Randlett’s photographs.

Born in Seattle in 1924, Randlett has earned a reputation for her intimate and informal portraits of the Northwest’s artist and writers. Her photographs are held in the permanent collections of more than three dozen major institutions nationwide, including The Metropolitan Museum of Art and the Smithsonian Institution. Tacoma Art Museum’s collection features eighteen works. In addition to her many solo exhibitions, her work has been featured in hundreds of books, magazines, and newspapers.

“Mary has been an invaluable link to many of the region’s major artistic figures,” said Rock Hushka, Director of Curatorial Administration and Curator of Contemporary and Northwest Art. “She filters the landscape through an aesthetic shaped by her respect for painters such as Morris Graves, Neil Meitzler, and Leo Kenney. Her landscape photography reveals her deep love and passion for the Northwest’s mountains, rivers, and beaches.”

Randlett has caught on film what she describes as the “veiled Northwest,” a singular moment when the mists or fog shift to reveal the beauty and majesty of the landscape. Other images in the exhibition focus on the interaction of light and water and are nearly pure abstraction composed from deep black and white contrasts.

Randlett taught herself to develop film in college. After graduation, she was an informal apprentice of Hans Jorgensen, who was a former assistant to New York fashion photographer Louise Dahl-Wolfe. In 1947, Jorgensen introduced her to the Rolleiflex, which was the standard field camera for fashion and editorial photographers of the time. Later, photographer George Mantor was instrumental in teaching her how to capture intimate portraits using a thirty-five millimeter camera.

Unimpressed with automatic and digital equipment, Randlett remains dedicated to traditional black and white photographic methods. Her studious efforts in the darkroom allow her to explire a full range of soft grays and deep blacks. These tones capture the mystique of the Northwest’s liquid light, and her work continues to expand the aesthetic traditions of the “ Northwest School .”

Tacoma Art Museum connects people and builds community through art. The museum serves the diverse communities of the region through its collection, exhibitions, and learning programs, emphasizing art and artists from the Northwest. The museum’s five galleries display an array of major national shows, the best of Northwest art, creatively themed exhibitions, and historical retrospectives. In addition, there is an Education Wing for children, adults, and seniors with an art resource center, classroom, and studio for art making. Tacoma Art Museum is located in Tacoma ’s Museum District, near the Museum of Glass , the Washington State History Museum , and historic Union Station.