I Don't Do Windows

One of my favorite prints, a western portrait titled "I Don't Do Windows", was given to the Lovely Mrs. B and me for a wedding present.  The artist, Gordon Snidow lives in Belen, New Mexico.  The model is a favorite of Gordon's, and was also the model for the companion to this print.  That one is called "I Don't Make Coffee, Either".

Gordon Snidow's image is an idealized depiction of a special kind of southwestern independent spirit and sense of empowerment.  This photograph of Buddy Major and his sisters, taken around 1925, shows the same spirit, power, and downright sassiness.  These are women to be reckoned with.

German Merchants in New Mexico

The proposal I submitted to the Historical Society of New Mexico's program committee has been accepted.  I will be making a presentation about the Huning family, German immigrants who came to New Mexico in the 1860s and established a mercantile trade that encompassed two southwestern states.  Louis Huning, one of the original Huning brothers to come to New Mexico, settled in Los Lunas, and started a mercantile business that existed from the 1860s to the 1990s, the entire time under direct Huning family management.  Louis is pictured here with his family, front row Louis, Lolita, Henrika (Henny) Busch Huning, Fred, and back row Louis Jr., and Emma.  The photograph was taken in the 1890s.

I will make the presentation at the New Mexico State History Conference in Santa Fe next spring.

Slippery Slope

I don't think I want to make a habit of this, but I am going to comment on an email I recently received.  Attached to the message was a PowerPoint presentation of art work by a Russian artist by the name of Anna Kostenko.  The friend who sent me the message and attachment indicated that what was remarkable about the images was that they were NOT photographs, but paintings.  I viewed the PPT slides and said to myself that the images certainly were remarkable paintings, because they looked just like photographs.  REALLY looked just like photographs.  So I googled (when a noun becomes a verb, pay attention) "Anna Kostenko", and it turns out that there are two artists named Anna Kostenko.  One of them is a painter and one of them is a photographer.  The slides in the ppt presentation were indeed photographs, taken by the photographer Anna Kostenko.  Further googling turned up a statement by the painter Anna Kostenko saying that she did NOT take the photographs in the slide show.

This mistaken identity/mis-identification brings up some interesting issues.  Does it matter whether the images are photographs or paintings?  Does adding the concept of  "art" change how you view and evaluate the image?  Does a photographic image have any validity as a documentary object?  Does the artist matter if you cannot detect the artist's hand?

At a photographic workshop conducted by Ansel Adams in the early 70s, one of the students showed Ansel a good technical print of a picturesque landscape.  "That's very nice," Ansel said, "you've made a jewel out of a jewel."