MADRID.- Yesterday, 28 May, Fundacion Mapfre presented the photography exhibition Emmet Gowin, which will be on view until 1 September at the Azca Exhibition Hall (Avda. General Perón, 40, Madrid).

The exhibition, which includes nearly 180 works, is the most comprehensive retrospective of the American artist's work to date, and the first that Spain has dedicated to Emmet Gowin, one of the most original and influential photographers of the last 40 years.

The selection of works featured in the exhibition includes aerial photographs of Andalusia taken by Gowin specifically for this occasion.

Emmet Gowin enrolled in a Graphic Arts degree programme in Richmond, and he developed a passion for a wide variety of art forms, pursuing drawing and painting with particular enthusiasm. However, after a few months he realised that photography was the most suitable medium for incorporating the elements of chance and the unexpected, with the boundless creative possibilities that this entailed.

Gowin’s early photographic influences were drawn from books and catalogues on the work of major photographers such as Robert Frank, Henri Cartier-Bresson, Eugène Atget and Walker Evans. However, just two years after he had begun to work with his first camera, a 35 mm Leica purchased in 1962, Gowin became aware of the need to find his own signature style.

The press conference was given by the director of the Institute of Culture of FUNDACIÓN MAPFRE, Pablo Jiménez Burillo, the exhibition curator, Carlos Gollonet, and Emmet Gowin himself.