Fraenkel Gallery is pleased to present Richard Misrach: Night Photographs 1975-1977, on view from November 1st through December 22nd, 2007.
Richard Misrach’s talent first came to public attention through the photographs he made in the American desert and Stonehenge during the years 1975-1977. The Museum of Modern Art, New York, among other institutions, acquired work from this series, and the photographs were exhibited at the Centre Pompidou in Paris in 1979. Working at night, with long exposure times and a strobe technique, Misrach created stark images of cacti, trees, rocks, and the desert floor, apparently infused with an un-earthly light. His unique split-toned printing process heightened the black and white tones of the subject while infusing a copper-ish glow to the background. In 1978 the Agfa Company reduced the silver content in its photographic papers, and Misrach was no longer able to print the work as intended. Consequently, these prints are scarce and have rarely been shown together since the late 1970s.
Richard Misrach’s early photographs confidently declared his themes and paved the way for much of what was to come in his celebrated Desert Cantos, a work still in progress. His photographs have been exhibited in major museums around the world. On the Beach, his most recent series, is the subject of a two-year traveling exhibition, currently on view at the Art Institute of Chicago through November 25, 2007. Richard Misrach: Night Photographs 1975-1977 can be seen concurrently with the exhibition Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Abstractions 1957-1972.
