ART}? EXHIEITIQNSLIST ,
, couple not watching a 30 movie is so
j tangible, so uncannily real even today. . The cliches are there too, the
9 bill-boards, Harlem and Hollywood,
3 guns and gamblers, but this exhibition also shows the other side, the beauty
. and pride ol the nation. It is not a mere ; caricature at a kitsch American
l lite-style.
ot street-wise hip. While Jack Kerouac
convertible, an early example at the ; American superlative, and William
HIGH SOCIETY ON THE ROAD
"I enjoy giving a Tupperware party in I my own home. Tupperware is a l homemaker’s dream, you save money because your load keeps longer. " Words at advice lrom an all-American housewile to hersuburban lriends. It could be a scene straight out at Steplord Wives, but it is in tact a photograph by Bill Owens taken in 1971. Hard to believe it’s only 15 years since the mini-skirt reigned supreme and equally astonishing that in that short period photography has grown in stature to take up a widely respected position in the art world.
Owens' photograph is just one at nearly 400 in the American Images exhibition at the Gallery at Modern Art, which charts the meteoric rise ol photography as an art lorm against the backdrop ot the history at a country set on course to change the culture, politics and moralities ol the Western
world. Photo-journalism, a product of 20's
Germany, was adopted by the US photographers ol the 40's and 50's as it it were their own. Weegee, alter weegee-board, so-called because of his mysterious habit at being on the scene belore the police or lire brigade, combed the streets at New York in a nocturnal search lor the lace at America. Eugene Smith lound his America by lollowing the lives at his countrymen in detailed documentary series lor magazines like Lile. Though the earliest ol the photographs in the exhibition, the clarity ol vision at the work at these two is stunning. The anguish ol the parents at an injured child in the care at the country doctor, the pride ol the black lamin in their Easter Sunday best, the embrace ol the
Weegee: Easter Sunday. Harlem
The 50’s spawned a new generation
was on the road, Robert Frank was taking pictures ol it. Elliot Erwitt in his photo oi l955 shows Yale’s oldest living graduate wheeled out in a shiny
Klein distils those street-scenes ol the 40's into artlul studies at the American independence.
By the time America hit the 60's, the strain at a multi-racial society was beginning to show and race riots spread throughout the majorcities. The Vietnam War took some American aggression abroad but Martin Luther King and John and Bobby Kennedy were assassinated. Hippies chanted lor peace and the tirst public Acid Test with "electric kool aid” was held i (LSD mixed wlthlruitjuice). In his '
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Hell's Angelc1967
disturbing side at the culture is most obvious in Diane Arbus' photograph at a patriotic man with a flag, but ironically even her work preserves the dignity ol the American in exposure ol . the most intimate kind. i In the 70's and 80’s the'independence:
verges on the sell-indulgent, such as Duane Michaels Take One and See Mount Fujiyama but the majority is breathtaking. The landscapes, particularly Richard Misrach’s dramatic deserts, Thomas Joshua Cooper's dense woodlands and John ol America is translated by the l Ptahl’s rock walls in glorious colour, photographer as the independence ot interpret the American landscapes as sell. Ho longertied to legendary, surreal and at times
pictures at the 60’s Nathan Lyons asks , photo-journalism, a genre made unearthly places. Fantasy becomes "who says you're healthy" and ; largely redundant by television, the reality and reality becomes lantasy as Danny Lyon locuses on bikers, the tree T prolessional becomes artist. Some at f the American dream is revealed with a SPlfllS 0' “‘8 "umnefed highways. The i the work at the 70's in the exhibition l lresh identity. (Alice Bain).
Asda Milton Road Fri 24 J an, 2—5pm and 6—8pm.
Portobello Town Hall Sat 25 J an, 10am—5pm.
Princess Margaret Hose Hospital Tue 28 Jan, 10am—4pm.
B a 0 car park, tllddrie Main: Road Wed 29 Jan. 10am—5pm.
Middle Meadow Walk Thurs 30 J an,
10am—5pm.
Leith Town Hall Fri 30 Jan, 10am-5pm.
Tynecastle Terrace Sat 1 Feb, 10am—3.30pm.
Hoyal Edinburgh Hospital Mon 3 Feb, 10am—4pm.
Pentland Community Centre Tue 4 Feb. 6—9pm.
Moredun Library Wed 5 Feb, 10am—5pm.
Balerno Bavelaw Hoad car park Thurs 6 Feb. 10am-5pm. Currie Scot-Mid car park Fri 7 Feb, 10am—5pm. O RIOOLE’S COURT 322 Lawnmarket. Women Artists Recognition and Reappraisal from Early Middle Ages to the 20th century. From Fri 24 Jan every Friday for eight weeks. 2-4pm. £12.£6 OAP, 50p UB40etc. A special course on the contribution made by women artists over 600 years of history. Enrolment at the first meeting or by post to Mrs Eunice Wright at the above address. 0 TORRANCE GALLERY 29b Dundas Street. 556 6366. Mon—Fri 11am—6pm. Sat 10.30am—4pm. General Exhibitions. 0 369 GALLERY 209 Cowgate, 225 3013. Mon—Sat 12.30-5.30pm. Sculpture & Prints by Brian McCann, Home1984—85 Until Sat 1 Feb. Seers and nomads, navigators and healers are the characters in Brian McCann’s theatrical sculpture. A graduate from Duncan Jordanstone College of Art. he has been studying for the past year at the British School in Rome on a scholarship. Another of the young Scottish artists making his mark on the international scene, he has already exhibited in Dusseldorf. London, Paris, Edinburgh and Rome, and looks set for an illustrious career. The work in this exhibition seems strangely at odds with the space containing it however. The large Mediterranean pink head with its fossil-like growths and the papier mache mannequins seems uncomfortable in the rather dulling atmosphere of the gallery. The 369 Gallery will be starting a
3 comprehensiveeducational V“ : programme oni27 Jan which will include a drawing class on Tuesdays
by the painter Brian Gibb (currently on show at the City Art Centre in After Images) a painting workshop on Wednesdays taken by Andrew Williams, life-drawing and painting classes on Thursdays with Caroline McNairn and gallery talks and art lectures. Contact Angela Wrapson, 369 Education Officer for details.
0 TRIANGLE COFFEE HOUSE GALLERY 7 Randolph Place. Mon-Fri, 9.30am—4.30pm. Closed 25. 26, 27 Decand l, 2, 3Jan.
Mixed Show Until end Jan. Work by Dave McLure, Jim Howie. John Bellamy. David Hutton, Reinhard
Behrans, Alice Bold and Alphonse I
Bytantas. l
_ The-List 24 Jan—6 Feb33