Drawn entirely from the Getty Museum’s collection, The Expanded Landscape presents 17 artists working between 1990 and today whose work creates a dialogue with recurring themes and techniques in the photographs of Mario Giacomelli. Availing themselves of advancements in photographic technologies and materials and working on a much larger scale, these artists expand on some of Giacomelli’s practice and push the genre of landscape photography in new directions.
The works on view similarly privilege the expressive, graphic power of the landscape and a deeply personal relationship with a particular place. They depict the land or sea, are realized in black and white or in color, and have been taken from an aerial perspective or made in direct contact with nature. Some express environmental concerns overtly, others more implicitly. Several are the result of experimental techniques employed in the darkroom or on the computer.
Among the contemporary artists featured are Virginia Beahan and Laura McPhee, Hai Bo, Gregory Crewdson, and Richard Misrach. Many of the works were acquired by donation and many are on view in the Getty Museum galleries for the first time.
“It is exciting to present this collection of Mario Giacomelli photographs assembled by Dan Greenberg and Susan Steinhauser over a period of almost twenty years,” says Virginia Heckert, curator of photographs at the Museum and curator of both exhibitions. “Not only does the exhibition introduce a new audience to Giacomelli’s work, but it does so through the eyes of the collectors, who were drawn to his expressive portrayals of people and the land. The Expanded Landscape complements this overview of this important Italian photographer by showing how contemporary artists use photographic technologies available today to address a similar respect, love, or concern for the land. The dialog between the two exhibitions underscores both continuity and change in photographic traditions.”
Mario Giacomelli: Figure|Ground and The Expanded Landscape are on view June 29 through October 10, 2021 at the Getty Center Museum.
The Expanded Landscape
June 29 – October 10, 2021
The Getty Center Museum
1200 Getty Center Dr
Los Angeles, CA 90049, USA
