
Kentucky Renaissance
The Lexington Camera Club and Its Community, 1954-1974
Brian Sholis(Author)
Yale University Press
Published on 1. November 2016
Book
Hardback
192 pages
978-0-300-21898-5 (ISBN)
Description
A groundbreaking study of the extraordinary photographers, writers, printmakers, and publishers who formed a flourishing modernist community in Kentucky
Dozens of American cities witnessed the founding of camera clubs in the first half of the 20th century, though few boasted as many accomplished artists as the one based in Lexington, Kentucky. This pioneering book provides the most absorbing account to date of the Lexington Camera Club, an under-studied group of artists whose ranks included Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Van Deren Coke, Robert C. May, James Baker Hall, and Cranston Ritchie. These and other members of the Lexington Camera Club explored the craft and expressive potential of photography. They captured Kentucky's dramatic natural landscape and experimented widely with different techniques, including creating double and multiple exposures or shooting deliberately out-of-focus images.
In addition to compiling images by these photographers, this book examines their relationships with writers, publishers, and printmakers based in Kentucky at the time, such as Wendell Berry, Guy Davenport, Jonathan Greene, and Thomas Merton. Moreover, the publication seeks to highlight the unique contributions that the Lexington Camera Club made to 20th-century photography, thus broadening a narrative of modern art that has long focused on New York and Chicago. Featuring a wealth of new scholarship, this fascinating catalogue asserts the importance and artistic achievement of these often overlooked photographers and their circle.
Published in association with the Cincinnati Art Museum
Exhibition Schedule:
Cincinnati Art Museum
(10/08/16-01/01/17)
Dozens of American cities witnessed the founding of camera clubs in the first half of the 20th century, though few boasted as many accomplished artists as the one based in Lexington, Kentucky. This pioneering book provides the most absorbing account to date of the Lexington Camera Club, an under-studied group of artists whose ranks included Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Van Deren Coke, Robert C. May, James Baker Hall, and Cranston Ritchie. These and other members of the Lexington Camera Club explored the craft and expressive potential of photography. They captured Kentucky's dramatic natural landscape and experimented widely with different techniques, including creating double and multiple exposures or shooting deliberately out-of-focus images.
In addition to compiling images by these photographers, this book examines their relationships with writers, publishers, and printmakers based in Kentucky at the time, such as Wendell Berry, Guy Davenport, Jonathan Greene, and Thomas Merton. Moreover, the publication seeks to highlight the unique contributions that the Lexington Camera Club made to 20th-century photography, thus broadening a narrative of modern art that has long focused on New York and Chicago. Featuring a wealth of new scholarship, this fascinating catalogue asserts the importance and artistic achievement of these often overlooked photographers and their circle.
Published in association with the Cincinnati Art Museum
Exhibition Schedule:
Cincinnati Art Museum
(10/08/16-01/01/17)
Reviews / Votes
"The title is recommended. . . for the insights it offers in placing figures like Meatyard within the context in which they worked, for its recognition of an arts community that has been underexplored, and for its exploration of collaborations between writers and artists."-ARLIS/NA Reviews * Arlis/NA Reviews *More details
Language
English
Place of publication
United States
Product notice
Cloth over boards
Illustrations
120 color illus.
Dimensions
Height: 229 mm
Width: 178 mm
Weight
862 gr
ISBN-13
978-0-300-21898-5 (9780300218985)
Copyright in bibliographic data and cover images is held by Nielsen Book Services Limited or by the publishers or by their respective licensors: all rights reserved.
Schweitzer Classification
Persons
Brian Sholis is curator of photography at the Cincinnati Art Museum. John Jeremiah Sullivan is a contributing writer to The New York Times Magazine, a contributing editor to Harper's Magazine, and southern editor of The Paris Review.