New Exhibition of Photographs by Eliot Porter Opens on Saturday

Eliot Porter (American, 1901-1990), Aztec Creek, Glen Canyon, Utah – Blue/Gold Colors Reflected, 1962, dye transfer print, 9-9/16 x 8-3/16 inches, gift of Mr. and Mrs. Melvin Wolf, University of Wyoming Art Museum Collection, 1984.195.19

A new exhibition featuring the landscape photographs of Eliot Porter will open this Saturday, August 20 in the Rotunda Gallery of the UW Art Museum. The West of Eliot Porter: Images of Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah features images created using a dye transfer printing technique. Porter created a new way of viewing the world by introducing color to landscape photography, which today has become commonplace. He began working in color in 1939, long before his fellow photographers accepted the medium.

Trained as a chemical engineer and a medical doctor, Porter began his career in photography in the early 1930s by making black and white prints in his spare time while working as a bacteriologist and teaching at Harvard University. An exhibition in 1938 at Alfred Stieglitz's gallery prompted Porter to leave Harvard and pursue photography full-time. Porter's work energized environmentalists, drew accolades from museums, and created the foundations for today's color nature photography.

The Art Museum is open 10 am - 5 pm on Saturday and admission is free. For more information about this or any other exhibitions, please visit the Art Museum's webpage, or call 307.766.6622.