Turning Back moves museum forward New photography donation reveals a collection on the rise

Author: Alexxa Gotthardt

This June, the Middlebury College Museum of Art's (MCMA) collection swelled with the addition of celebrated American landscape photographer Robert Adams' portfolio Turning Back: A Photographic Journal of Re-exploration. The acquisition of this impressive set of 164 photographs, an important and exclusive part of the contemporary photography canon, was made possible by a significant gift from enthusiastic patrons of the arts Kathy and Richard S. Fuld Jr.

Taken in celebration of Lewis and Clark's bold 1804 expedition across a widely uncharted western America, the photos included in Turning Back retrace the explorers' legendary steps. Steps, which in Adams' shoes, stir up not only the excitement of discovery, but also the complexity, disquiet and melancholy that followed. From images of sweeping forests of stumps reminiscent of war zones to quaint, fertile family farms, Adams both mourns the lost land opened so quickly to development and looks optimistically toward a healthy future. Though marred, the America Adams depicts is a one of enduring promise and a rich, common history.

These beautifully wrought photographs steeped in tradition and shot by a prominent contemporary photographer are a powerful combination for many reasons, and the MCMA recognizes every one. "This portfolio is a significant addition to our collection because of Adams' stature in the field of photography and because of the fact that there are only three copies of the portfolio - the other two copies are owned by the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Yale University Art Gallery," said Director of the College Museum and Walter Cerf Distinguished College Professor Richard Saunders. Chief Curator Emmie Donadio expanded on the import of the portfolio, explaining that "Robert Adams is one of the most influential and highly regarded photographers working today. With Lewis Baltz, Stephen Shore and seven other photographers, he is credited with inventing a new form of landscape photography. Instead of focusing on exalted views of the [American] landscape of the 19th-century and Ansel Adams variety, Robert Adams and others like him photographed nature that revealed the negative effects of human activity." Donadio continued, "The latest set of Adams' works [Turning Back] makes this intention most explicit. It is sure to be a definitive Adams' work."

Years before the recent gift was received, the MCMA, along with Middlebury Studio Art and History of Art and Architecture professors, recognized the value of Adams' photography. "[Professor of Studio Art] John Huddleston encouraged us to collect work by Adams before this gift came to us," said Donadio.

The Adams portfolio is not only significant for its reputation and uniqueness, but also for its educational value to the college and its students - both art history aficionados and environmentalists alike. "It's a great gift and will give students a chance to examine first-hand the work of one of the most influential American photographers of the last century," said Charles A. Dana Professor of History of Art & Architecture and Professor of Photography Kirsten Hoving.

Donadio also pointed out Turning Back's possible influence outside the realms of art-history and fine art. "The fact that Midd has the nation's first Environmental Studies program enhances the value of the portfolio since there is a ready group of students and faculty who will appreciate Adams's vision. Not to mention the photography students who can learn from the aesthetics of each image."

In addition, Turning Back's 164 prints slide smoothly into the Museum's ever-growing photography collection, which the Museum has been actively cultivating since the early 1970s, just after its inception. Robert Adams' extensive portfolio joins the ranks of many other renowned photographers in the collection. "Among other photographers represented in depth in our collection are Berenice Abbott, Harold Edgerton and Danny Lyon. All Americans. And all [are] different from Adams," said Donadio. "I believe that this is the first significant group of landscape photographs that we have acquired."

There is no doubt that the College's art collection becomes more extensive and impressive all the time. But why this concerted commitment to contemporary photography?

"We put a lot of enthusiasm and effort into developing our collection of contemporary photographs," said Donadio.

"One main reason [for the collection's growth] is the funding from Marianne Boesky for the last seven years," said Donadio. Boesky, an alumna and renowned New York City gallerist, makes an annual donation to the museum for the particular acquisition of the contemporary photography and video that has quickly flooded the collection with important works by the likes of Chuck Close, Gregory Crewdson and Nan Goldin.

"Another reason we've been able to collect photography is because, until recently, it was affordable. Now photography is phenomenally expensive. Luckily, collections continue to grow thanks to the generosity of donors."

Though what photographs like those of Turning Back may have lost in their affordable price tags, they've gained in value, celebrity and resonance. "Photography, along with video and film, is a crucially important medium of society today," said Saunders. "It resonates in a way that we all can understand and I believe it is very likely to be of lasting value."

Therefore, with beauty, practicality, value and sure art-historical importance, Turning Back makes its mark on an already burgeoning collection of photography that's significance is sure to be lasting.

An exhibition of Adams' Turning Back: A Photographic Journal of Re-exploration opens in the Johson Memorial Gallery on January 25 and will be on view through June 3, 2007.