TruthBeauty: Pictorialism and the Photograph as Art, 1845-1945

Vancouver Art Gallery from February 2 to April 27, 2008
 -from their website: 

"The hauntingly beautiful photographs created within the Pictorialist movement in the late-nineteenth and early-twentieth centuries are among the most important works of art in the medium’s history. TruthBeauty will bring together more than 150 of the finest photographs by renowned artists such as Julia Margaret Cameron, Baron Adolph de Meyer, Alfred Stieglitz, Edward Steichen and Josef Sudek. The Pictorialist artists sought to elevate photography—still seen in the nineteenth century as merely a mechanical tool of documentation—into the realm of fine art. Drawing upon major museum collections worldwide, including the George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film, the Museum of Modern Art, New York and the Tokyo Metropolitan Museum of Photography, this historic exhibition will reveal the rich aesthetic, diverse approaches and technical innovations of Pictorialism—one of the first truly international artistic movements. "

The exhibition is organized by the Vancouver Art Gallery in collaboration with George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film. Curated by Alison Nordstršm, Curator of Photographs, George Eastman House International Museum of Photography and Film.

 ———————–

I hit this exhibit today. This was pretty powerful - showing the struggle that Americans and others found validating photography as fine art. Well executed with most prints being actual museum vintage , not just replicas on the circuit. $15 was quite reasonable and coat check seemed rather secure with my camera gear. No lineups and some decent multimedia. Worth the hour long stopover.