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Stephen Wirtz Gallery

September 9 - October 17, 2010

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49 Geary Street 3rd Floor San Francisco, CA 94108
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Private Views Barbara Crane, Private Views, 1980-1984 Polaroid type 59
Opening reception Thursday, September 9, 2010, 5:30-7:30 PM Stephen Wirtz Gallery announces an exhibition of Polaroid images by renowned photographer Barbara Crane. In the early 1980’s, Crane created a series of Polaroid photographs shot during the Chicago summer festivals. She focused on close-ups capturing the details of clothing, hairstyles, and most specifically, gesture. Through her lens, the viewer witnesses a tightly-cropped inventory of private gestures performed in very public spaces and experi-ences the energy of the crowd. “I have treasured these pictures for their depiction of universal experiences, yet they are also a record of a specific moment in time as communicated via the unique – and now, sadly obsolete – photographic medium of the Polaroid. These images were shot during the heat of summer days, very close to the subjects, as I struggled to carry a hand-held 4 by 5 Super Graphic 45 camera, boxes of Polaroid sheet film, and a Polaroid film back. These photographs are truly labors of love.” Barbara Crane, October 2008 Crane’s dedication to experimentation has driven her career and furthered her goal as a photographer “to attempt to eradicate previous habits of seeing and thinking…to keep searching for what is visually new, while always hoping that a fusion of form and content will take place.” Private Views presents the opportunity to view the successful fusion of social document combined with close-ups, tight cropping, and mixed lighting for maximum impact. BARBARA CRANE was born in Chicago in 1928, studied at Mills College in California and completed her BA in Art History at New York University. She later received her MS from the Institute of Design at the Illinois Institute of Technology studying with Aaron Siskind. She began teaching photography in 1964 and taught for 28 years at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago before retiring as Professor Emeritus in 1995. Crane has received many grants, awards, and fellowships, including two NEA Grants, a John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Fellowship in Photography, an Illinois Arts Council Artists Fellowship Award in Photography, and the Ruth Horwich Award. She has exhibited internationally and published numerous books, most recently “Private Views” (Aperture 2009) and “Barbara Crane: Challenging Vision” (Chicago Cultural Center 2009). Her work is represented in major collections around the country, including the George Eastman House in Rochester, the Center for Creative Photography in Tucson, the Art Institute of Chicago, the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, and the Museum of Modern Art in New York.