The Portland Art Museum (PAM) photography department has been a
puzzling entity for at least the last six years that I’ve followed it.
Part-time curator Terry Toedtemeier has a refreshingly unconventional
eye for photographs that serve the worlds of history, science, and art
alike—PAM’s holding of the first scanned photo is a perfect
example—but actual photo exhibitions are all too infrequent and
largely uninspired. (The Edward Weston and Elliott Erwitt shows, for
example, were painfully unnecessary and revealed zilch about the widely
known, long-canonized masters.) The Mark Building’s dedicated
photography gallery boasts a serviceable mix of relatively strong
holdings and assorted curios, but baffling curatorial decisions (such
as the inclusion of multiple works by artists of dubious merit)
undermine the collection’s low-budget charm. As much as I enjoyed
Toedtemeier’s wonderful 2003 exhibition of historic eccentricities,
In Varied and Particular Ways, I find myself frequently
wondering what, exactly, is going on in that photography department.
New on the Wall, a sizable showcase highlighting PAM’s photo
acquisitions from 2001 to the present, provides a partial answer to
that question.
On the most casual level, New on the Wall is a totally fine,
non-thematic grab bag that hits the baseline “something for everyone”
mark. It includes a handful of major bragging points (iconic pieces
from Walker Evans and Arnold Newman stand out); welcome representation
of a few hardworking locals (Shawn Records, Ann Kendellen); a
smattering of historical treasures (including a sublime 1903 platinum
print of Mosquito Island by Lily E. White); a few quirky Toedtemeier
specialties (NASA Mars-scapes; an obscure candid of Adolf Hitler); and
plenty of miscellaneous odds and ends, which probably would have been a
more fitting name for the exhibition.
Aside from there being no thematic underpinning to the exhibition,
it also suffers a complete absence of wall text, so viewers are on
their own in every way. (There is a self-congratulatory, typo-riddled
pamphlet about PAM’s photography collection, but absolutely nothing to
contextualize any of New on the Wall‘s 64 individual images.
Curating this show must have been about as difficult as creating an
iTunes playlist.)
The most significant advance in PAM’s photo-acquisition method is a
standing arrangement with patron Jim Winkler and Blue Sky Gallery,
which finds Winkler buying one print from every Blue Sky show for the
museum, and the respective artist matching the donation with a second
photograph. This allows for a steady accumulation of contemporary
pieces, while recognizing Blue Sky’s invaluable contribution to
Portland’s photography scene, but it also essentially gives the Blue
Sky programming committee honorary-curator status at PAM. If the Blue
Sky collection is just a small part of a more aggressive acquisition
strategy, fine. But “I’ll take whatever you’ve got” is hardly a recipe
for curatorial success. That being said, many of New on the
Wall‘s stronger pieces arrived at the museum through this
arrangement.
As the museum’s permanent photography gallery demonstrates, there
has long been a focus on acquiring images specific to the Pacific
Northwest, which makes a lot of sense, given PAM’s limited resources
(e.g., they’re not going to be buying any Fox Talbots or Andreas
Gurskys in the near future). This thread is touched upon in New on
the Wall, but not to an inspiring degree. The 1890s ship-channel
cyanotype and contemporary Shawn Records piece are welcome additions,
but can’t even begin to scratch the surface. Justine Kurland’s
definitive portraits of our 21st century forests, as well as Martin
Parr’s Boring Photographs from Boring, Oregon, would be
cornerstones of contemporary views of the region from outsiders. Mark
Hooper’s re-imaginings of Lewis and Clark’s expedition and Melia
Donovan’s faux-Cannon Beach/hoodie fake-outs cleverly deconstruct the
local iconography from within. Additionally, selections from Harrell
Fletcher’s earlier photo-centric projects and Matt McCormick’s still
images would begin to balance the thudding insistence that photography
in Portland ends with the old-guard crew that includes Stu Levy, Chris
Rauschenberg, and Toedtemeier himself. Their invaluable contributions
will be neither lessened nor forgotten by acknowledging photographers
who have either emerged or moved here in the past 15 years.
While the rest of the Portland art world, including PAM at large and
Blue Sky, have sprung into action with remarkable vigor over the past
several years, the museum’s photography department acts as if it’s
waiting for a hand-written invitation to the big dance. They’ve
accumulated some fine prints over the past seven years, as New on
the Wall demonstrates, but as far as laurels go, those are hardly
substantial enough for languid rest.