November 15, 2011
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
For more information, please contact:

Dr. Scott Dimond, Curator for Visual Arts

(814) 472-3920

Travis Mearns, Public Relations Coordinator

(724) 238-6015

EXHIBITION HIGHLIGHTS EUROPEAN PHOTOGRAPHY

            Loretto – The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto is pleased to announce the opening of its latest exhibition, With Old World Eyes: European Photography from the Permanent Collection. Numbering approximately forty works, the exhibition opens December 12 in the Margery Wolf-Kuhn Gallery and will remain on view through May 12.

            The exhibition focuses on the work of European and European-born photographers in the SAMA permanent collection. Hailing from France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, and several other countries, these men and women share a common interest in capturing the artistic potential of their subjects. From the lyrical humanism of Édouard Boubat and André Kertész to the crystalline formality of Albert Renger-Patzsch, With Old World Eyes celebrates the range and depth of photographic expression in Europe.

            Born in France in 1839, practical photography spread almost immediately to both sides of the Atlantic. Yet it may be argued that there are fundamental differences between European and American photography. In the United States, photography was embraced as an invaluable tool for recording the appearances of people and places. A pragmatic medium for a pragmatic people, photography was not widely accepted as fine art until after the turn of the twentieth century. Europeans, however, accepted the artistic possibilities of photography from the beginning. The camera, like the brush, became a means of expressing poetic feeling and refined sensibilities. Although photography did not replace painting (as the great French artist Jean-Auguste Dominique Ingres had feared), it was readily esteemed for own unique capabilities.

            “These photographs depict many different subjects and were taken in several countries by men and women of various nationalities,” said Dr. Scott Dimond, SAMA Curator for Visual Arts. “Yet there is a remarkable cohesiveness in their poetic spirit. As a group, they form a compelling statement about the deep artistic legacy of European photography.”

            The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art at Loretto is located on the campus of Saint Francis University. Hours of operation are 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday and 1 to 5 p.m. Saturday. The Museum is open to the public free of charge. For more information, call the Museum or visit www.sama-art.org.

            The Southern Alleghenies Museum of Art receives state arts funding support through a grant from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, a state agency funded by the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania and the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency.