Like painters and draftsmen before them, photographers turned to the landscape as a source of inspiration after the invention of the medium in 1839. Since then, changing artistic movements and technical advancements have provided opportunities for camera artists to approach the subject in diverse and imaginative ways, as illustrated by the wide range of works from the extensive collection of the J. Paul Getty Museum in Landscape in Photographs.
Until the nineteenth century, landscape was seen merely as a backdrop to a main subject, but with the rise of industrialization, natural settings became increasingly rare in urban life and, therefore, more valued and frequently represented. Plein air photographers recorded landscapes near and far, while Pictorialists, such as Edward Steichen and Imogen Cunningham, added emotional resonance to the scenery with their painterly style. During the twentieth century, the lenses of Edward Weston, Ansel Adams, and Minor White discovered lines, shades, and textures, and the landscape became a creation of rich tones and graphic compositions. Artists such as Harry Callahan and Aaron Siskind went further and cropped nature into purely abstract images.
Landscape in Photographs accompanies the exhibition In Focus: Picturing Landscape, on view at the Getty Center from May 22 through October 7, 2012.

Landscape in Photographs

Arts & Photography

Hellman, Karen

Abbott, Brett

Collections, Catalogs & Exhibitions

J.paul Getty Museum

Photographers have been irresistibly drawn to the window as a powerful source of inspiration throughout the history of the medium. As one of the first camera subjects, the window is literally and figuratively linked to the photographic process itself. By bringing together key works, arranged thematically rather than chronologically, and presenting pairings within broader stylistic movements, this volume examines the motif of the window as a symbol of photographic vision. The Window in Photographs includes more than eighty color plates spanning the history of photography, all drawn from the J. Paul Getty Museum’s permanent collection. The theme is presented in a wide range of contexts, from one of the earliest images by William Henry Fox Talbot or Julia Margaret Cameron’s 1864 allegorical use of the motif, to works by members of the Photo-Secession, including Gertrude Käsebier and Fred Holland Day. The documentary thread of the street photographer can be followed in Eugène Atget’s record of the old quartiers of Paris and later twentieth-century photographs by William Eggleston, Walker Evans, and Lee Friedlander. Alfred Stieglitz and Paul Strand chose to utilize the theme of the window for its more graphic possibilities. More recently, photographers Shizuka Yokomizo and Gregory Crewdson explored conceptual aspects of the window to investigate themes of voyeurism and invented narrative, while Uta Barth and Yuki Onodera created more abstract visions. The book accompanies the exhibition At the Window: The Photographer’s View, on view at the J. Paul Getty Museum from October 1, 2013 to January 5, 2014.

The Window in Photographs

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Books by Hellman, Karen

See the best price to sell, buy, or rent books by Hellman, Karen. BookScouter helps to compare book prices from 25+ online bookstores and 30+ buyback vendors with a single search.

Landscape in Photographs

The Window in Photographs