NEW YORK, NY.- Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs will exhibit iconic images of early photography at TEFAF New York on May 4-8, 2017, at the Park Avenue Armory. The photographs begin with the dawn of photography and reach beyond 1900, telling the story of the medium’s short but extraordinary early history.
Among the highlights will be William Henry Fox Talbot’s stately Oak tree in winter, c. 1842-1843, considered a prime example of the British inventor of photography’s mastery. Devoid of leaves, it towers over the other trees along the horizon to emphasize both the oak’s size and structure silhouetted against the clear light of a winter day.
A striking ocean view by Gustave Le Gray, Effect of the sun in the clouds – Ocean, 1856-1857, is one in a series of poetic and meditative seascapes that brought the photographer international acclaim for technical and artistic achievement. The print is a tour de force combination of clouds, sea, and sun. The seascapes Le Gray created between 1856 and 1858 are the works for which he is most celebrated.
J. B. Greene was a student of Le Gray in Paris, but spent the greater part of his short adult life photographing in Egypt and Algeria. In 1853, the 21-year old Greene made the first of two voyages to Egypt as a photographer and archaeologist. One stop was noted Egyptologist Auguste Mariette’s excavations in Giza. Greene’s interest in archaeology may have drawn him to Egypt, but once there he took in the wonders of the landscape and the monuments and created exquisite minimalist views. The first museum exhibition of Greene’s photography is scheduled to open at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art in 2018.
Another traveler in the 1850s, Linnaeus Tripe, was known for his explorations of India and Burma. When the Governor-General of India sent a diplomatic mission to Burma in 1855, Tripe was appointed the official photographer. His body of work remains the earliest and most extensive photographic record of Upper Burma.
One of the great portraitists in the history of photography, Julia Margaret Cameron is represented by one of her best known portraits: Julia Jackson (Mrs. Herbert Duckworth), 1867. Julia Jackson was Cameron’s niece and goddaughter, and throughout her life she was a frequent sitter for her aunt’s photographs. She was the mother of Vanessa Bell and Virginia Woolf.
Carleton Watkins, the prodigiously skilled landscape photographer, captivated the public with crystalline views of the American West. The Garrison, Columbia River, c. 1867, is one of an inspired series of mammoth albumen prints taken along this Oregon waterway.
In 1905, the opening exhibition of Alfred Stieglitz's Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession, or 291 (for its Fifth Avenue address) included a print of Happy Days, 1903, a playful composition that exemplifies Gertrude Käsebier's artistry in portraying childhood in a naturalistic and informal manner. Stieglitz was a major force in the promotion of photography as a fine art in America in the early 20th century. The Steerage, 1907, is considered Stieglitz's signature work and depicts well-heeled travelers as well as European immigrants on a ship bound for Europe. It is unknown if the immigrants are being forcibly returned to Europe by the U.S. government (which was not uncommon at the time) or if they are returning of their own volition. Most commonly seen as a gravure, it will be shown at TEFAF as a rare contact silver print.
Hans P. Kraus Jr. Fine Photographs will be exhibiting at TEFAF New York from May 4-8, 2017, in Stand 24. The telephone number at the stand is +1 917 273 4609.
