| | | |  | | | Robert McCabe: Corinth, The Archaic Temple of Apollo, 1955
Analog Gelatin Silver print
100 x 100 cm (39’ 3/8 x 39’ 3/8 inches)
© Robert McCABE courtesy galerie SIT DOWN | | | The Photography Show 2018 presented by AIPAD | | | | Robert McCabe » Greece, Images of an Enchanted Land, 1955-1965 | | | Presentation : April 5 - April 8 | Booth 705
Vernissage Wednesday April 4 | | |  | | | | | | | | | |  | | | Robert McCabe: ATHENS 1955, The Agora and the Acropolis from Observatory Road
Analog Gelatin Silver print
50 x 50 cm (19’ 5/8 x 19’ 5/8 inches)
© Robert McCABE courtesy galerie SIT DOWN | | | | | | Sit Down gallery for its first participation in The Photography Show will present the work of an American photographer, Robert A McCabe, who began taking photographs in Greece in the 1950s, before mass tourism, and when the islands and villages each still maintained their unique traditional culture.
In his pictures, McCabe has captured authentic scenes of Aegean life that can never be duplicated. He also photographed many archaeological sites and has a unique record of their condition after the War.
The gallery will present analog silver gelatin prints ranging from 50 x 50 cm to 100 x 100 cm as well as vintage prints by the photographer which will be exhibited for the very first time. There will also be on display prints made by Modernage Labs for an exhibition in 1967 at the Onassis Olympic Gallery in New York.
"Through his artistic vision, the art of Robert McCabe brings us back to an older Greece, when the light was stronger, clearer, and the monuments appeared to be revealed for the first time." Dr Vasileios Petrakos (General Secretary of the Archeological Society of Athens and General Secretary of the Academy of Athens) Excerpt from text for the exhibition of Mr McCabe’s photos on the occasion of the 180th anniversary of the Society.
"All of us have different criteria for judging photographs. For me, the subject must be compelling and the composition artful. And the image must reward me each time I see it. It must add something to my understanding of the world and the human condition – some universality. And unless it is a photograph of devastation or human suffering, it must be an image I would want to see often – one I could live with on my walls. So how is it that Robert McCabe, in his early twenties, traveled to Greece and created so many images that fulfill my criteria? How did a young man with a camera hit the ground running, producing some of the most indelible and satisfying photographs most of us have never seen? Where did McCabe develop such a certain eye? He will tell you he spent much of his early life looking at photographs in newspapers and magazines, and began taking pictures with a Kodak Brownie when he was six. Well, so did I, but I’ve never made the beautiful and engaging images you see here. ... McCabe, for reasons that I do not fully understand, has given us a treasure trove of images, each one thoroughly rewarding. How fortunate we are to have this collection by a photographer whose name is not well known, but should be." James L. Mairs Publisher, Quantuck Lane Press
"...You have the quality and the freshness of the artist’s eye, and of an honest man. No superfluous effects, a frank vision in mastered composition, and an empathy in the view of the people you have met." Letter from Willy Ronis to Robert McCabe
"... The images ennoble this cradle of western culture and exalt its values and traditions. The documentary interest of the work of Robert McCabe is undeniable, tied to a strong sense of nostalgia. Through their generous square format the photographs offer minute detail, and reveal a country displaying a very rural character, and an antiquity which has not yet been taken over by mass tourism. Robert McCabe encountered a society that was often poor but always dignified. He shows the Acropolis before it was hemmed in by the city. The photographer meets archaeologists who are working with means which today might seem rudimentary. As for the landscapes, they are delivered here in all their purity. There is no place where the sea light has an equivalent and the way Robert McCabe presents it in a precise and nuanced black and white underlines even more their exceptional visual properties. This photographic voyage translates the enthusiasm, the pleasure of discovery: precious happiness which gives us the feeling that until now is has been shared with very few." Gabriel Bauret, Curator |
|
|
|
