Press release for Hollis Frampton lecture and screening
(1978)
P. O. BOX 7200, PITTSBURGH, PENNSYLVANIA 15213 41 2 - 681 -5449
PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE PRESS RELEASE
Hollis Frampton, film-maker and photography critic, will be in Pittsburgh March 20 and 21 to 1) speak at Pittsburgh Film-Makers (on the 20th) about photographer Edward Weston, and 2) speak at the Museum of Art, Carnegie Institute (on the 21st) in connection with the screening there that evening of his The Vernal Equinox., Both programs will begin at 8 pm, with admission to each $1.
For information about his Carnegie Institute appearance please contact the Film Section (622-3212).
Before he was a film-maker Frampton was a photographer, and though he has largely ceased to take still pictures since 1966, he has begun to write about and speak on the still medium, most notably in Artforum where his essays on Paul Strand, Eadweard Muybridge, and "Digressions on the Photographic Agony" have appeared. His writing on the subject is among the most amusing and provacative commentary in the field.
As this release is being mailed we still do not know precisely what aspect of Weston's work Frampton is going to direct himself to.
There is certainly a great deal to say about Weston, however.
The late photographer (1886-1958) was one of the architects of the classic "west coast" school of photography in which great detail, extreme depth of field, and strong composition became a style that was imitated all around the world. Weston wanted his images "rendered with the utmost exactness: stone is hard, bark is rough, flesh is alive." Weston's photographs have become standards against which other photographers' are measured. And new Weston work continues to come to light; twenty years after his death a collection of his Nudes was released (this Christmas) including many images never before seen by the public.
This program is supported in part by grants from the
Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.
The enclosed 8 x 10 b&w picture is of Frampton lecturing.
