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The Edges of the World PHOTOGRAPHS BY Thomas Joshua Cooper BOWDOIN COLLEGE MUSEUM OF ART, BRUNSWICK, MAINE Thisbrochureaccompaniesanexhihitioii ol thesamenameattheBowdoiiiOollegc Museumof.\rt, Brimsvvick,Maine, fromJune throughSeptember 1,2002. DesignbyMahanGraphics,Bath.Maine PrintingbyFranl^lin Printing.Farmington.Maine CopyphotographyofMr.("ooper'soriginal photographsbyWitMcKiiv TheEdgesoftheWorld:Phologia/j/isby TiiomasfoshutiC.oope>'Ksiipporteciby theStevensL.Frost KndowmentFund. Copyright®2002BoudoiiiCollege TheBowdoin CollegeMuseum ofAn isenormouslygrateful toCecile P.m/icri ofthe.Sean KellvGallen'and Krilli D.ivis atthe Hallni.irk Photographic(Collection forgenriimsK l.uilii.iiingtheloanofworks fiom theiriiistiiutionstorthisexhibition. WewouldalsoliketothankSophia(Collier andChulaReynoldsforsharingtheirworks forthisexhibitionandBillyDavis,whoco- ordinatedtheeffortson theirbehalf Most ofall,wethankThomasJoshu.i(iixipirlor hisgraciousparticipation in thisexhibition, thefourthinasummerseriesexploring imcommonvisualinvestigationsofthe Mainelandscape. On thecover 4 An Indication Piece TheEnglish Channel... 16 1/4X 22 3/4 inches Cotirtesv Hailmaik Photographic Ccjiiection, HallmarkClaids. Inc., KansasCity, Missouri The Edges of the World PHOTOGRAPHS BY Thomas Joshua Cooper TheEdgesofthe World:Photographs by ThomasJoshua artists have been—assigning themselvesforcenturieswhen Cooperis the fourth in a series ofsummer exhibitions depicting Maine Cooper is clearly more interested in the organized bythe Bowdoin College Museum ofArt show- recurring rocks and desolate cliffs, aswellasin the subtle casing unconventional depictions ofthe Maine landscape. distinctions ofthe ocean, captured as itpasses through Thisyearwe feature the photography ofThomasJoshua one ofits constantly fluctuating moods. Cooper, in which the rockycoast ofMaine and its seas are There are few bette—rways to describe Cooper's photo- seenwithin the larger contextofthe edges ofthe world. graphs than haunting aword towhich a numberofcrit- The bodyofworkexhibited herewas conceived and ics have resorted. To some extent this qualitycomesfrom begim when the artistvisited Maine in 1996. the tremendoussilence found in Cooper's images ofthe ThomasJoshua Cooper's series ofapproximately 100 sea. Compared, for instance, to nineteenth-centun photographs, ofwhich this exhibition includes nine, American renderings ofthe sea in which artists strove depicts thewater and shores ofGreat Britain, Greenland, to capture everything from the smell andwarmth ofthe Newfoundland, Nova Scotia, Maine, and Massachusetts. summersea air to the loud crashingwavesofa stormy These glimpsesofland and significantseasare similar to sea (WinslowHomer is only the first example to come those thatthe English settlerswould have seen as they to mind) Cooper'sworkoffers no such overtdrama. journeyed to the NewWorldon the Mayflowerm 1620. Instead C,ooperasks himself"Howlittle information can Using an 1898 field camera, a large, cumbersome piece 1 have in the photograph while still retaining aspectsof ofequipment, Cooper usuallymakes pictures fromjust realism?" For instance, in Cooper's photographswe tend offthe shore orrighton its edges, often from the most to seewaves as theyare formingfar out at sea; instead of extreme points ofthe coastline. Wliile the sites are witnessing the dramatic climax ofthewave'spassage asit described in detail by Cooper in the title ofeachw—ork, collideswith the land, we observe its eerie, noiselessfor- the locations themselvesatfirst look eerilysimilar the mation. In addition to the silence ofthese photographs, same barren,jagged rocks, the samevast bodiesofgrey we notice the often precarious position in which we are water. Rather than tiying to capture the discrete nature placed (viathe precariousposition in which the photo- — and characterofthe differentcoastlines a task that grapher must have placed himself) toview these silent 3 8. A PremonitionalWork MuskegetSoundandtheNorthAtlanticOcean... 16 1/4X 22 3/4 inches CourtesyHallmark Photographic Côllection, HallmarkCards, Inc., KansasCity, Missouri seas. Thissensation is intensified b\' the fact that the hori- moods by Ck)oper in the darkr—oom, jirimarily b\ his (hem- zon linesfoimd in most traditional landscapes are absent icallyo\er-painting the images that is, laving down tones in Cooper's photographs, which further contributes to the ofindigo and burgimdy after exposing the imagesonto sensation ofbeing imminently engiilfeci by the sea, orof the paper. observing thewaterfrom dizzying heights. In addition to the technical and physical feats he per- Cooper's distinctive methodsgive ns some additional forms to execute his photographs, Cooper alludes to a purchase on the tremendous spiritual presence found in history that is rarely, ifever, evident on the surface of hiswork. Coopervisits the sitewhere he is going to photo- theAtlantic Ocean, but whose ghostly presence is embed- graph a numberoftimes before making the picture. He ded within the sea. Cooper'sviews ofthe NewWorld are observes it at different times ofday and undervarious usually titled "Indications" or "Premonitions,"suggesting weather conditions. When the right moment finally both anticipation and the fear ofthe unknown, emotions — arrives a moment his longexperience has trained him probably felt by the passengers ofthe Mayjlouicr. Exam- — to recognize he makesone and onlyone exposure. ining Cooper'sphotographsfrom thatperspective, we Cooper's intellectual and emodonal understandingof could, for instance, interpret the spectral form in the the places he photographs, and the manner in which water produced byavery long exposure in APremonilioruit that understanding is transmitted through hiswork, Work:Mus—kcff'tSoundandIhcXorlli Al/rinlir Ocean, Looking are similar to the work ofthe nineteenth-century photo- N., N. E. Yi'lAgain, Toxcards Ihr\rw World, From Sunset to grapherTimothy O'Siillivan, who greatlyinfluenced him. FullMoonrisr, WasqucPoint Chappaquiddick Island, Martha's . O'Sullivan, who photographed extensively in the Amer- Vineyard, Mn^sarhiisells. fS.\ 2000-2001, (TheSouthernmost ican West, felt a close connection to the land, which is Point oj('.h<ipp(i(juiddi(l; hiaiid) as representing the wav that evident in his photographs, a connection thatwas, as the Pilgrims mayhave imagined theirnebulous future Peter Bunnell observes, less aboutthe land asplace and while on board the Mayflower. Interspersedwith works more about its spirit.• Cooper, too, in an almost ritualized titled "Indications"and "Premonitions" are others tided manner, identifies simultaneously inviting and forbidding "LookingTowards the Old World." One can imagine these places and represents them as sacral sites. same passengers looking backwith ambivalence towards The intensitywe find in Cooper'spictures is increased the motherlandfromwhich theywere forced to break ties. to adegree by the artist's darkroom technique. Cooper In Looking'Fowards theOld World: TheAtlanticOcean, The frequently photographs in the fall and the winterwhen Bay oJFundy, West Qiioddy Head (TheEastern MostPointof the light isespeciallycrisp, even severe. The severe light, ContinentalAmerica), Maine, USA, 1996-1999, the surging which allows him to capture deep contrasts and the seaperhaps functions as a metaphor for the Pilgrims' strong, intricate lines ofhis forms aswell as the textures internal feelingsofdeep and irreparable loss. The most ofthe water, is transformed into differently dramatic unusual photograph of tliis series, A Premonilional Work: 5 Looking Towardthe OldWorld...Maine... 16X 23 inches CourtesySean KellyGallery, NewYork — — CapeCodBay LookingN., N.E. Towards the Old World, turallyjustified work and thus not to be questioned as FirstEncounterBeach, NearEastham, Cape Cod, Massachusetts, to its raison d'etre."^ Cooper celebrates thegrandeurof USA 2000-2001, (From thissitethePilgrimSettlersfirstencoun- nature while simultaneouslymakingclear that it canncit teredNativeAmericans), depictsdune grasses bentdown be understood as aneutral orstable phenomenon. toward the ocean by force ofa recedingwave, reminding The sea represented the unknown and the ungraspable us that this land did indeed have life on its shoresbefore to the Pilgrims. Cooper'sphotographs ofthe sea, in turn, the Pilgrims arrived, a life that the Europeanswould provide uswith the opportunity to revisit this particular alterforever. historicjourney, less to review its facts than to be remind- — — Itwould be easy perhaps too easy to reduce ed ofthe Pilgrims' fear, foreboding, resignation, anxiet), Cooper's photographs and readingsofthem to the fact hope, loss, and the eventual cataclysm for the Native that he is part NativeAmerican and spent hisyouth on Americans associatedwith thatjourney. These photo- reservations in the West. While Cooper's backgroimd graphs suggest that the "promised land"maynot have certainly informs this particularbodyofwork, itis always lookedverypromising to these seafaring refugees important to pointout that most ofhiswork over the ofthe seventeenth century. Simultaneously, they intimate lastfifteenyears has dealtwith seas and rivers in relation something ofthe impending tragedythatwould take to the historyofhuman migrations, including migrations place as aresult ofthisjourney, and in doing so thev ofthe Scots, Irish, Portuguese, Scandinavians, Germans, capture amoment ofAmerican history at once inaugural — and Mexicans, to name onlya few. In Cooper's hands and terrible a story, therefore, thatwe are compelled to bodies ofwater are fraughtwith ambiguity: he politicizes return to again and again. the sea even as he creates some ofthe most beautiful — images ofit. Cooperalso seems to be remindinguswith Alison Ferris these images thathistory, before itis secured orreduced towords, can be understood as similar tovastbodiesof water that are continuously in motion and can neitherbe easily contained nor defined. In this manner. Cooper 1.PeterBuiuiell.'ThomasJoshuaCxiopcr:TheTemperaments,"in TtwmmJoshua breakswith traditional modernist depictions ofthe ocean CCaoolpoeurs:teAGSiumlpbleernkCioanntaFgonunndDaatsioOnnd,aJso:seSidmeplAyzCeorueadloinPgerWadviegsa,o(CLeinstbeonr,fPoorrMtuogdael:rn.\rt. while at the same time embracing the formal innovations 1994),142. that can be found there. IanJeffrey explains that the mod- 2.IanJeffrey,"Intimations;The-\itofThomasJoshuaCooper."inThomasJoshua ernists preferred legible responses to nature in which the Cooper:ASimplesCoritagemDasOndas:SimplyCountingWaves,(Lisbon.Portugal: subjectwas alreadyframed and represented, alreadypart CMaoldoeurstneAGiull.be1t9i9k4i)a.ii14F8o.undation,JosedeAzeredoPerdigaoCenterfor ofthe culture, alreadywithin the realm ofthe understand- able. "Amodernist landscape," he writes, "is alreadya cul- 9. A PremonitionalWork CapeCodBay... l(i 1/4 x 22 :V4 inches Collection SophiaCôllici and (Ihuia RcNnolds — CImHaEgCeKLniIeSaTsiOneFmeTnHtEsaEreXHpIrBovIiTdIeOdNand 6.ATnheIXnndiiclahl/MnlnauPliie.ce(hran—lnnking,V., N.1.—InvaidsIhr(ddWorldCapeSahlf, starredworksareillustrated. CapeS—nhirIsland\nvii S.nini, Canada iw^/^2liill IIhrSnnihnnmosl—FoinlofNova Scotia andihrI'ninipniii.rhnhiu'<-i 11)11(1shipshaveheenlostatsea includingthose *1.LQouookdidnygIIlnrwaadrHdhtchrhtO\htli'rWnnmioisilt—PoFiunrtthoefstCoEnatsitn—entthaelAUtSlAa)n,ticMaOicneea,n,USHAa.yn1f9F9un6/-l1y.99W9est scialiviegrhigeIIlIaIlhirn-p.nrinailtl.cilM-"lIr'iniiinuiniSiliuniriiic.d"icliiihmiginaledaroundihissitein1991) silvergelahiijuini,sileniumandgoldchloridetoned 161/4x223/4inches 16X23inches CourtesyHallmarkPhcjtographicCollection,HallmarkCards,Inc..KiiiKsasCity, CourtesySeanKellyGallery.NewYork Missouri 2.s/(il.lNonvn,ehlrnilig\êllIallnniwinadupillrhiIcnhtch,iO^sllt.lrkn-Winnminru^lnlid—Ia'lnnnudiillglnoujls(dl.luitaihlînlior—rnlilh.dirc!(lMol,Sna\nclidn.M(ahnrnu:n./l.SUn\.,I>l'/"-'>/lnu^l-x.}'Wmest 7.ACIahIpr'er\enCi,onlndhniMlaiMsilsniuaid.nhiWnu'snri<lth;irsa,nU—SLAoo2k0i0n0g-N2.0.0N1.E(T.h—e7oNworatrhdesrntmhoesOtlPdoiWnotrlodPCRaapceePCooidn)t. 251/2X341/2inclit-s silvergelatinprint,seleniumtoned CourtesySeanKellyGallery,NewYork 161/4X223/4inches CollectionSophiaCollierandChulaReynolds — 3.Land/alfandtheNerrFoundLand A7^' theAtlanticOceanCapeBonamsta,theIsle fsnoijflSvIenhrccjgiueiulrna^dthlusnilinnplrI,InIii(I.hnrsn-cm.klv-uahniinujInlSiijrnliIonntn,^ciddiij,jiililinnjnxj,nlni,y'(>nSl'-<>!lW\<>DiscoveryajtheNnvWorld *8.AMthuePsrkNeenmgvoentiWtSoiroohunlna—dlLaWinoodrnikthSeunNsoertthtoAFlullalnlM/oconOrciesaen—LoWoaksiqnugeNP,oinNt.,E.C—hapYeptaAqguaiidnd,icTkowhalrndnsd 16X23inches .\\,nlha\ Vinnanl. MassachusettsUSA2000-2001(TheSouthernmostPcjintop CourtesySeanKellyGallery.NewYork Cha/ipaquiddiikIsland) silvergelatinprint,selenunntoned *4.AnIndicationPiece 161/4x223/4inches Thel-in^hshChannel—I,>nl;ni!^S..S.W—lnward--Ihr\rirWmldllninrIlend CourtesyHallmarkPhotographicCollection, (Sniiihn2). \ra,rhwniill,(nnmuilt.In-l,uid r">.\-2nill tIIn /,n/ \i<.r,>l HallmarkCards,Inc.,KansasCity,Missouri fstrihleovmLenrEggnleg/lslahalni(dnnajpsmriiIimhh,rni.s\ie'nlliw'ePnWioilruglmndi)tnoSnetetdlerswouldhavehailuponthenleave-taking *9.ACaPpreemCoonditBiaoyn—alLWooorkkingN,N.E.—TowardstheOldWorld—FirstEncounterBeach, 161/4x223/4inches NearFasihamIapr<'nd. MassachusettsUSA2000-2001(FromthissitethePilgrim CourtesyHallmarkPhotographicCollection, Settlerspnliinminirird \ativeArneiicans) HallmarkCards.Inc.,KansasCity,Missouri silvergelalin|)imi.^cUinnmtoned 161/4X223/4iLulu-s ,5.AnIndicationPiece CollectionSophiaCollierandChulaReynolds The(,ullalSI. Ijnvreme—LookingN.N.F.—VneardstheOldWorld—CapeSt.Lawrence, CapeIhrlaiihiand,\'ovaSnitia. Canada}<H>'i-2l/HllOiirulthetwoXarlhernmost PiiinfsnjXi.vaSinlia—<iiidalmioihrsilrujhnlh/anpifs<'dilin\andSniniielde Chaniplain\Canadianinastaldisioverirsamiexphiraliniisojihr.\nrWoihlfor theFrench) silvergelatinprint,seleniumtoned 161/4X223/4inches CourtesySeanKellyGaller)'.NewYork THOMAS JOSHUA COOPER 1998 Backwaters:Land\tapePhotogruphtfry Thomasp>\huuCooper.TheClevelandMuseum ofArt,Cleveland.OH 1946 BReosrindeSsaninFGrlaanscgisocwo.,SCcaoltilfaonrdnia PTrhionmcaestoJno,shNuJaCoftfjer:TheTemperaments.PiiiuetonLhiiversity.\itMuseum, — — Riverworks America .Scotland.SeanKelly(iallery,NewYork.N\' EDUCATION 1997 WhrietheRii'ersFlow.FruitmarketGaller>'.Edinburgh,Scotland 1972 LnncibityotNewMexico,M.A.,AnwithDistincrioMinPlujtoj^raphy. Albuquerque,NM BorderCrossings,Kou^thallen-BohuslansMuseum,Uddevalla.Sweden 1969 HumboldtSlateUniversity.B.A..Art.Pliilosophv,andLiterature,.\rcala,CA I99(i RiversandRituals.SeanKelh(.allei7,NewYork.NY PROFESSIONAL ACTIVITIES SELECTED GROUP EXHIBITIONS 1998 AppointedHonoraryProfessorbyGlasgowUniversityatGlasgowSchoolofArt 2002 Snapshot.]ohi\sonCountyClominunm'College.0\'erlandPark,KS 1982 FoundingHeadofDepartmentofPhotography.SchoolofFineArt,Glasgow 2000 Land:ThomasJoshuaCoofier,RichardLong,andPaulNash,InglebyCialiery, SchoolofArt,Glasgow,Scotland(topresent) Morayshire.Scotland 1999 Eclipse:ThomasJoshuaCooperamifamesTiinrll.MichaelHueA\illiamsFine.Vt. HONORS London.England 1998 SeaChange:TheSeasinprnit"iilemporaryPhotography,CenterforCreative 1994 Major.\rtist'sAward,ScottishAitsCouncil.Edinburgh.Scotland Photography,Uni\rrsii\ olAii/ona,Tucson.AZ.TraveledtoInternational CenterforPhotogiaplu.NewY>rk.andMuseumofPhotographic.Vrts, SanDiego.CA SELECTED SOLO EXHIBITIONS 1997 Location,UsherGallery,Lincoln,England 2004 ModernArtMuseumofFortWorth,Fo[iWorth.TX — 1996 LongingandBelonging FrrnntheFnraimyNearl/y.MuseumofFineAiisan<lSITE 2003 ThomasJoshuaCooper,LosAngelesCtnniryArtMuseum,LosAngeles.CA(with SantaFe.SantaFe,NM catalogue) 2002 TheluJi^,.ojilu PhotographsbyThomasJoshuaCooper.BowdninCollege MuseumulAn,liiunswick,ME(withbrochure) 2001 AftheVeryEdgesojtheWorld,TateGallery,St.Ives,England — MovingWest BeingWest:NeiePhotograph\JromfhrAllnntHCoast.SeanKelly Gallery,NewYork,NY TheGrandRiver:RioGrandeRiverCrossingsfromtheRivertotheSea,[aniesKelly ContemporaryArt,SantaFe,NM 1999 WorkfromtheNeti'FoundLand,SeanKellyGallery.NewYork,NY WheretheRiversFlow.EsbjergMuseumofAit,Esbjerg,Denmark ThomasJoshuaCooper:Photngiaphs,GalerieFraiukuiulSdiiilit-,Berlin.Germany