‘Shifting Terrain’ Landscape Photography

At Wadsworth Atheneum

HARTFORD — “Shifting Terrain: Contemporary Landscape Photography,” an exhibition featuring the work of 17 notable artists including Edward Burtynsky, Olafur Eliasson, Andy Goldsworthy, Rosemary Laing, David Maisel, Sally Mann, Simon Norfolk, John Pfahl and Hiroshi Sugimoto, will be presented at Wadsworth Atheneum Museum until November 5.

Drawn from the museum’s permanent collection and several private collections, some of the photographs recall 19th Century landscape traditions while others chart new thematic and geographic territory.

According to Joanna Marsh, associate curator of contemporary art, “Facing mankind’s alteration of pristine spaces into sites of mass deforestation and toxic waste dumps, many contemporary artists have endeavored to resurrect the notion of natural beauty, and once again imbue landscape photography with a sense of the sublime.”

The awe-inspiring scenery captured in large albumen prints by Carleton E. Watkins and William Henry Jackson is echoed in subtly toned gelatin silver prints of Rena Bass Forman. American landscape painting traditions are evoked in Rosemary Laing’s groundspeed series, where a giant carpet has been applied to a forest floor.

In contrast, Edward Burtynsky is concerned with environmental devastation caused by industrial waste, such as his 2000 series documenting shipbreaking in Chittagong, Bangladesh.

Simon Norfolk has focused his lens on sites scarred by human atrocities, such as Bosnia’s minefields and mass graves. Looking at the landscape from a different angle, David Maisel’s aerial views of Utah’s Great Salt Lake and its industrialized surroundings are jewel-colored abstractions.

On Thursday, August 3, curator Joanna Marsh will give a 6 pm gallery talk on “Shifting Terrain” as part of Phoenix Art After Hours: First Thursdays at the Atheneum.

“Shifting Terrain” coincides with two other photography exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum: “Eloquent Vistas: The Art of 19th Century Landscape Photography from the George Eastman House” on view through August 27 and “Edward Weston: A Photographer’s Love of Life,” which will run September 16 to December 31.

Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art is at 600 Main Street. For more information, visit WadsworthAtheneum.org or call 860-278-2670.