Beverly Semmes at Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin - New and Recent Sculpture

Beverly Semmes: New and Recent Sculpture
Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin
2 October 1996 - 16 February 1997

The first one-person exhibition in Ireland of the work of the American sculptor Beverly Semmes opens to the public at the Irish Museum of Modern Art on Wednesday 2 October. Beverly Semmes: New and Recent Sculpture comprises 10 of Semmes’s characteristically large, dramatic clothing pieces, all created in the last four years, and 10 earlier photoworks of smaller wearable garments. 

Beverly Semmes’s monumental sculptures and her smaller fabric creations are a delightful and provocative fusion of personal fantasy and social commentary. They explore the power of clothing and its ability to influence, and even define the self - who we think we are, how we choose to represent ourselves, and how we are seen and defined. The strangely distorted bodices and elongated arms of Semmes’s dresses, with their profusion of colours and fabrics, present rich psychological terrain. Her exaggeration of clothing forms to surreal extremes, result in sculptural creations that reflect a concern, shared by many contemporary artists, with the politics and psychology of identity. 

Scarlett, 1994 is a typically striking work, a 71/2 foot long ‘dress’ of scarlet crushed velvet with skirt and arms flowing down the gallery wall and spilling luxuriantly onto the floor. In Green Braided Dress, 1992 the collar and shoulders are of a normal, though greatly enlarged, dress, which is then contorted into three pairs of plaits stretching to the ground. Two new works have been made especially for this exhibition. One, Twister, 1996 is one of the first works in which a kinetic element is introduced. In all of the larger, more recent works the human figure is absent - but made all the more visible by its very invisibility. This ‘presence of absence’ resonates throughout Beverly Semmes’s work with both dramatic and telling effect. 

In contrast, the small scale photoworks and film stills each depict a costumed figure, frequently in a landscape with the shapes and textures of their costumes mimicking their surroundings. Figure in the Purple Velvet Bathrobe and Cloud Hat, 1991 depicts a figure standing on a sandy point overlooking the ocean. Her voluminous, purple robe falls in thick folds, like a waterfall or a stream that will lead to the ocean below, while her cloudlike hat is barely distinguishable from the sky. 

Born in Washington, DC, Beverly Semmes lives and works in New York City. Solo exhibitions include shows at the Sculpture Centre, New York, ICA, Philadelphia, Camden Arts Centre, London, the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Hirshhorn Museum, Washington, DC, She has shown in many group exhibitions in the US and in Dusseldorf, London, Nova Scotia and Ontario. Her Four Purple Velvet Bathroles was one of the most memorable works in IMMA’s From Beyond the Pale season in 1994-95. 

Irish Museum of Modern Art
Royal Hospital, Military Road, Kilmainham, Dublin 8
www.modernart.ie

David Rabinowitch, Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge - Sculptures and Templates, 1968

David Rabinowitch: Sculptures and Templates, 1968

Fogg Art Museum, Harvard University, Cambridge

September 14, 1996 - January 12, 1997

The special exhibition David Rabinowitch: Sculptures and Templates, 1968, which is a rare presentation of this important sculptor's work in a United States museum, was conceived by David Rabinowitch and James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director, and is presented in conjunction with the publication of Pacing the World: Construction in the Sculpture of David Rabinowitch, by Whitney Davis, professor of art history and director of the Alice Berline Kaplan Center for the Humanities at Northwestern University. 

"We are very pleased to be showing the work of David Rabinowitch and to be publishing the first book-length study to investigate its significance within the history of modern sculpture," James Cuno said. "For reasons I do not quite understand David Rabinowtch's work is very much better known in Europe, especially Germany and Eastern Europe, than it is in this country. It has been collected by most major European contemporary museums, exhibited widely from Prague to Paris, and published frequently in European journals and catalogues. But of course, until fairly recently, the same has been true of the work of his peers, Richard Serra, Carl Andre, and Donald Judd. It may have to do with a European predilection for tough-minded and radically experimental art, especially of a materialist kind. We, in this country, have preferred painting to sculpture and optical to materialist art," noted James Cuno.

David Rabinowitch was born in Toronto in 1943 and has been working in New York since 1972. His work can be characterized by an intensity of thought and material and simplicity of form, and it is representative of certain concerns of minimalist sculpture. The works to be exhibited at the Fogg, which include nine solid hot-rolled steel sculptures and seventeen drawings, or templates, have been chosen from a series done in 1968 which were formative in Rabinowitch's subsequent work.Ñ"My work from 1968 was a watershed for me," stated the artist, "in the sense that after that all of my sculptures were conceived in terms of operations in extended planes of mass and their relation to vision. It was the first time I worked in terms of template construction, which just means a one-to-one plan for a sculpture. Before, I used only plans and sketches. After this period I was able to make a certain percentage of templates as drawings in their own right and was stimulated to begin to make drawings independent of sculpture.

"It is significant to note," David Rabinowitch continued, "that this is the first time that these templates, which were selected from some 500, and sculptures will be exhibited as two orders of work that make up an enterprise."

The exhibition is the first of an informal series of exhibitions to be planned for the Fogg which will explore the relationship of recent sculpture to the floor. "Sculpture has always been concerned with its base," Cuno pointed out. "That is, how sculpture relates to our world and the space in which it is experienced by us is determined in great part by whether or not it is placed on a pedestal or directly on the floor. A pedestal tends to isolate sculpture and idealize it; as if were an object of an order different from objects in our world. As early as 1932, Giacometti placed a sculpture directly on the floor. Radical at the time, this has become commonplace since the 1960s. Over the next few years, we intend to offer exhibitions which highlight and examine this relationship.

"Such concentrated exhibitions are typical of our approach to the presentation of contemporary art," Cuno explained. "We hope to offer our visitors access to works of art and issues in contemporary art that have been overlooked or left unexamined by our colleague institutions in the greater Boston area. We don't want to duplicate what is already being done so well elsewhere. Equally, we want to publish serious and scholarly publications on contemporary art. Whitney Davis's is the first such publication. A distinguished scholar of Egyptian art, and a formidable critic of contemporary art theory, Professor Davis brings a powerful mind and extraordinary insights to the examination of Rabinowitch's work. And yet, like the work, it is accessible to anyone interested in contemporary art. It is not only a scholar's work."

FOGG ART MUSEUM

Harvard University Art Museums

32 Quincy Street, Cambridge, MA

www.artmuseums.harvard.edu

Agnes Mongan (1905-1996)

AGNES MONGAN, IN MEMORIAM

Agnes Mongan, a pioneer in the study of drawings and curator emerita of drawings at the Fogg , and the first female director of the Fogg Art Museum, died on Sunday, September 15, at Mount Auburn Hospital in Cambridge. She was 91 and a resident of Cambridge.

During her extraordinary career which spanned six decades, Agnes Mongan had a profound influence on her peers and colleagues, as well as on generations of fine arts students, many of whom went on to become curators in major national museums.

"Agnes Mongan was one of those individuals whose rare qualities and values embody the deepest purposes of an institution," Neil Rudenstine, President of Harvard University, said in a statement. "She was inimitable. She was the soul of intellectual scrupulousness, with the most penetrating sense of absolute standards. She was, in addition, a sympathetic spirit -- gracious, encouraging, and generous. She fixed her keen eye on works of art as objects to be understood in all their detail -- as well as in terms of their vital human and aesthetic effects. She was a scholar, curator, director, connoisseur, teacher, counselor and friend to countless people over the course of many decades in the life of the Fogg Art Museum, the Department of Fine Arts, and the University. We already feel her loss as profoundly as we were -- for so long -- aware of her vital presence."

James Cuno, Elizabeth and John Moors Cabot Director of the Harvard University Art Museums, said in a statement, "Agnes was that rare individual who could combine a high regard for tradition with a love of the new and the exciting. An acknowledged expert on old master drawings and a friend of the new art of her time, especially that of Alexander Calder and Virgil Thompson, she was, in a way, not unlike the work of the artist she most admired and for her scholarly work is best known, the French painter and draughtsman, Jean-August-Dominique Ingres. Like Ingres's work, she offered us a twist on the traditional that was, in the end, more modern than old fashioned. She was, in her tastes, habits, and courage, in no way conventional."

Born in Somerville, Massachusetts in 1905, Agnes Mongan knew at an early age that she loved works of art and that she longed to know more about them. Mongan's father, a family doctor, was determined that she receive the finest education possible and sent her to Bryn Mawr College, where she studied art history and English literature. Upon Agnes' graduation from Bryn Mawr in 1927, Dr. Mongan insisted that she, like his other children, spend a year abroad. Agnes chose to spend her year studying Italian art with a Smith College Seminar; her studies took her to Florence and Paris, and then to points beyond in Northern Italy and Central Europe, affording her opportunities to examine closely works of art in the original, with a particular emphasis not only on their history, but also on their present condition.

Following this remarkable year abroad, Mongan returned to Cambridge where she completed the requirements to receive her Master's Degree from Smith College. In 1929, she also accepted her first position at the Fogg Art Museum as a research assistant under Paul Sachs, cataloguing his collection of drawings. Indeed, Mongan has stated that she owes the development of her career and interest in drawings primarily to Sachs, a 1900 graduate of Harvard College, former banker, and longtime associate director of the Fogg Museum. Under Sachs' supervision, Mongan developed a network of professional and social contacts during her early years at the Fogg and she was granted access to some of the most important private collections in the world. In the following decades, Agnes Mongan became one of the leading connoisseurs of Old Master drawings, and she went on to play a principal role in the history of connoisseurship in this country.

In the 1930s the Fogg collection contained more drawings from France than from any other country, and, perhaps as a result, Mongan's interest in French drawings flourished. Mongan devoted herself to the writing of the catalogue Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art throughout the '30s; however, she also published numerous articles on individual drawings in the museum's collection, always basing her reporting on accurate scholarship. In addition to her full-time pursuits at the Fogg, Agnes Mongan also spent considerable time exploring her interest in contemporary art. In the 1930s she was one of the founding members of the Institute of Contemporary Art in Boston, and she later became involved with the activities of the Museum of Modern Art.

William Robinson, Ian Woodner Curator of Drawings at the Fogg Art Museum, said in a statement, "Agnes Mongan was one of the twentieth century's outstanding scholars in the field of European old master and nineteenth-century drawings. Drawings in the Fogg Museum of Art (1940), written by Miss Mongan and the Fogg's Associate Director Paul J. Sachs, is a work characterized by meticulous description, thorough research, incisive analysis and concise prose, which established a new standard for museum catalogues of drawings.

"As curator of drawings for nearly fifty years, she oversaw the development of the Fogg's holdings from a miscellany of no more than local significance to a comprehensive collection of international renown," Robinson continued. "Several thousand drawings entered the collection during her tenure. They included works acquired in the major gifts and bequests that form the core of the collections as well as drawings she was able to secure with a modest purchase fund that, she liked to recall, usually amounted to about $80 per year. An inspiring teacher, Miss Mongan was also a tireless advocate outside the classroom for her subject. She organized innumerable exhibitions of works from private collections and solo shows of drawings by artists ranging from Ingres to Andrew Wyeth. Her most important exhibition, French Drawings from American Collections: Clouet to Matisse, was seen in Rotterdam, Paris and New York in 1958-1959."

When Grenville Winthrop bequeathed his enormous collection of art to the Fogg Art Museum in 1943, Mongan embarked upon its catalogue. The Winthrop bequest opened a new era in scholarship of French art for Mongan; her area of specialty, originally Italian and French drawings of the sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries, was now extended to include French drawings of the nineteenth century. Cataloguing the Winthrop collection enabled her to devote years to the research of works by French artists other than Degas or Daumier. Specifically it presented an extraordinary opportunity to study the work of Ingres; 35 drawings by Ingres entered the Fogg via the Winthrop bequest. The grace, delicacy, elegance, and precision she admired in French art were strikingly embodied in the drawings by Ingres. In recognition of her growing expertise in French art, she was asked to assist in the cataloguing of the French paintings in the Frick Collection in New York, and it was while she was working on the French paintings at the Frick that Mongan states that she became an "Ingriste."

Agnes Mongan became the first female curator at the Fogg Art Museum in 1947 when Harvard University finally lifted its policy banning women from being appointed curators (until that time, she held the title "Keeper of Drawings"). In 1951, Miss Mongan was appointed assistant director of the Fogg, thereby assuming administrative responsibilities in addition to her established career as a scholar and curator in the drawing department.

Although Miss Mongan taught classes for many years, it wasn't until 1960 that her role in the Department of Fine Arts was acknowledged officially. Her appointment as the Martin A. Ryerson Lecturer in Fine Arts gave formal recognition to her long-standing teaching situation. Mongan always maintained that although the Fogg is open to the public, its primary function is the development of scholars and museum professionals. To this end, she gave freely of her time to all students who displayed a serious interest in drawings, encouraging them, helping them in their projects, and editing and promoting their publications.

Margaret Morgan Grasselli, curator of Old Master drawings, National Gallery of Art, said in a statement, "Miss Mongan's seminars on drawings were legendary and served as the instructional cradle for several generations of curators, connoisseurs, and collectors. Those of us who were fortunate enough to take one of her courses remember fondly her infectious passion for the drawings, the delightful anecdotes she would relate about each one, and especially the traditional trip to New York to visit dealers, exhibitions and private collections. For the students who shared her passion for drawings and were deemed to have an 'eye,' Miss Mongan used her considerable prestige and influence to open doors to life-shaping opportunities."

In 1964 Agnes Mongan's title was changed to associate director, and then in 1968 when John Coolidge retired as director of the Fogg, Miss Mongan was named Acting Director. In 1969, she was appointed director of the museum, placing her among the first female directors of a major museum in the United States. When she took on the job of running the Fogg, times were not favorable for American museums. Private funding was at a minimum, many of the old donors were gone, and the country and the university were preoccupied with the escalating conflict in Viet Nam. In spite of these difficulties, Miss Mongan carried on the museum administration according to traditional practice. As assistant, associate, and then director of the Fogg, Mongan always maintained an active role in the Museum, working on numerous committees and boards, organizing and overseeing social functions of openings and dinners at the Fogg, and traveling abroad to museum meetings and functions.

When Agnes Mongan retired as director of the Fogg in 1971, she retained her title as curator of drawings and continued in that position until 1975. Throughout the 1970s, she received numerous awards, honorary degrees, and accolades including the Merito della Republica Italiana by the Italian government for "her help with the restoration of art following the floods of Florence and her years of work fostering Italian culture." Miss Mongan was also awarded numerous visiting professorships including a visiting directorship of the Timken Art Gallery in San Diego, Edith Kreeger Wolf Distinguished Professor at Northwestern University, Bingham Professor at the University of Louisville, visiting professor at the University of Texas, Kress Professor at the National Gallery of Art (the first woman to hold that position), and visiting professor of fine arts at the University of California at Santa Barbara. Well into the 1980s, Miss Mongan maintained an extremely active schedule of new projects, including presenting lectures nationally and internationally, and writing and editing numerous articles and contributions to Art Museum publications.

In 1994, Ms. Mongan was once again honored at the Harvard University Art Museums, when the Agnes Mongan Center for the Study of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs opened at the Fogg Art Museum. She is the author of the recently published catalogue, David to Corot: French Drawings in the Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, Harvard University Press), 1996.

 HARVARD UNIVERSITY ART MUSEUMS

September 17, 1996

www.artmuseums.harvard.edu

Agfa ePhoto 307 Color Digital Camera

Agfa ePhoto 307 color digital camera

Agfa introduces the ePhoto 307 color digital camera, which offers high quality and an affordable price to the home and office computer user. With a lightweight body, the ease of a point-and-shoot camera, Adobe's PhotoDeluxe and Agfa's PhotoWise software, ePhoto is a quick and flexible tool for digitally capturing, editing and managing images.

Designed For Both Business And Personal Applications.

Agfa ePhoto allows PC and Apple Macintosh users to instantly capture images for a wide variety of purposes. Its two resolution settings of 640 x 480 or 320 x 240 pixels provides users with the option of using the lower resolution setting for on-screen applications such as web pages, electronic presentations and email, or the higher resolution setting for printed documents. In combination with high quality 24-bit imaging, this results in sharp pictures for home and business uses. Agfa ePhoto stores 36 high-resolution and 72 standard-resolution digital photographs. Whether for Web site construction, business documents, photo manipulation, or output to a printer, Agfa ePhoto provides businesses with an easy and affordable digital camera option. Every workplace, from real estate to advertising to design organizations can take advantage of its quality and efficiency.

As a tool for business, educational or personal use, Agfa ePhoto offers users an immediate way to capture images and bring them into their computer. It eliminates the steps of film processing and scanning. "With the widespread use of color-capable personal computers, color inkjet printers, and affordable image processing software, PC users can now make the simple next step of capturing their images with the ePhoto camera," said Etienne Van Damme, Senior Vice President of Marketing and Sales for the Agfa Business Unit Electronic Prepress Systems. "We believe the immediacy of capturing photographs economically and the advantage of using images to communicate will make ePhoto a new creative tool for business and personal use."

Added Value Software Included.

Included with the Agfa ePhoto are Agfa PhotoWise and Adobe PhotoDeluxe software. Agfa PhotoWise moves the images quickly and easily from the camera into the computer. The pictures can then be organized and enhanced. PhotoWise also gives users easy access to images stored in the camera with the PhotoWise Quicklink browser, which provides drag-and-drop support into other OLE2 applications such as those in Microsoft Office. Adobe PhotoDeluxe is an image editing package that easily modifies and personalizes digital photos. Suited for home use, this software has over 25 guided activities to help you improve and manipulate images, as well as many tools for merging pictures into documents, postcards, greeting cards, or other desired formats. Both programmes are Windows 95 and Macintosh compatible. PhotoWise also operates with Windows NT.

Portable, Easy And Fun To Use.

The Agfa ePhoto 307 is as simple to use as a traditional point-and-shoot camera. A user operates a shutter button and can choose between several flash settings, including auto flash mode or red eye reduction. There is a "delete files" button and a button to choose high or low resolution. The Agfa ePhoto is light and compact, making it easy to carry in a briefcase, backpack or pocketbook. Most of all, the ePhoto puts creativity and control with the user, allowing home and office users to immediately capture and work with photos to make their own slide shows, reports, newsletters, advertisements, web pages, greeting cards and more.

In addition to the software, Agfa ePhoto also comes with serial cables for connection to both PC and Macintosh computers; 4 AA alkaline batteries; built in auto flash and self-timer features; and 2MB of internal flash memory. ePhoto is the newest addition to Agfa's line of digital cameras, including the StudioCam and ActionCam. Agfa ePhoto has a suggested list price of US $599 (US).

AGFA-GEVAERT AG
www.agfaphoto.com

Hasselblad at Photokina 1996

Hasselblad at Photokina

Köln 18-23 September 1996

Hasselblad is showing is Multi image show Aqua every 30 minutes. The program, which is presented using 20 Hasselblad PCP80 projectors, consists of 630 different individual images often surrounded by a panoramic image. The final version features the work of 92 photographers.

At the seminars arranged by the Hasselblad University the following lectures will appear Judy Holmes, Christopher Springmann, Walter Schels, Ernst Wildi and Tony Corbell. The seminars are about 45 min and free tickets from Hasselblad's reception desk are required.

Judy Holmes "Wildlife - Outdoor Photography"

21 Sept. 11 a.m., 22 Sept. 2 p.m., 23 Sept. 2 p.m.

Judy Holmes is an exceptionally talented and dedicated outdoor photographer with a MBA from the Dartmouth College. Her incredible images have been featured in countless L.L. Bean catalogues and dozens of magazines, posters and gallery prints. She has been an artist in residence at the Disney Institute and taught for Hasselblad USA Inc. in 24 cities over the past two years. She recently published "Eye On Nature" which is an elegant little guide to outdoor and wildlife photography covering everything from exposure, composition to lab selection and image filing systems.

Judy Holmes has spent a great deal of time working on remote locations and she has accumulated a wealth of helpful information which you will benefit from in this clear, down-to-earth educational photokina Seminar.

Christopher Springmann "Commercial Photography"

21 Sept. 2 p.m., 22 Sept. 4 p.m., 23 Sept. 11 a.m.

Christopher Springmann is an American freelance advertising and fashion photographer from San Francisco, who has specialized in location portraiture for advertising and in trade publications covers and consumer magazines. He long ago abandoned the comfort and security of the studio for the opportunity and ultimate rewards of working on location with an equipment-filled van. His very dynamic photography has given him a clientele of many of the best known companies in the U.S. such as ATT, General Electric, IBM, National Geographic and many more.

Christopher Springmann also teaches photography at the prestigious Santa Fe Photographic Workshops, where he shows in step-by-step fashion, how studio-quality lighting is created on location by combining electronic flash and quartz lighting with the existing daylight to produce a "new reality".

During this Photokina Seminar Christopher Springmann will show and lecture on his innovative lighting control techniques, which in combination with the FlexBody have created the most memorable images.

Walter Schels "Portraits - People and Animals"

18 Sept. 11 a.m., 19 Sept. 4 p.m., 20 Sept. 2 p.m.

Walter Schels worked abroad as a decorator until 1965. In New York the dedication to photography became his profession and years of fashion, advertising and reportage photography followed, like for instance the covering of more than 50 births. The face of the new born baby, which many times is suggestive of an old man's face, created an interest in faces and portrait photography. A great number of portraits of artists, musicians, politicians, philosophers, scientists and others, even of blind people, followed.

The same interest was also turned to animals. It even served as models to the human portraits, because animals have no complex in regard to appearance or originality. Babies and very often also old people share this with the animals.

Since 1990 Walter Schels lives and works in Hamburg. In addition to exhibitions in Germany and abroad, also the publishing of works like "The open secret" in 1995 with physiognomic reflections on the new born baby and the old man's face.

Ernst Wildi "Light metering and successful photography"

18 Sept. 2 p.m., 19 Sept. 11 a.m., 20 Sept. 4 p.m., 22 Sept. 11 a.m.

Ernst Wildi has distinguished himself as a photographer, speaker and writer with the capability of explaining and illustrating photographic ideas and techniques in a way that is easily understood and remembered. He has written over 200 articles for amateur and professional photography magazines and is the author of "The Hasselblad Manual" now in its fourth edition, and "Medium Format Photography manual", now in its second edition published by Focal Press.

Ernst Wildi, a craftsman in the Professional Photographers Association and fellow in the photographic Society of America, is the recipient of the 1990 Bill Stockwell Memorial Award from the Wedding Photographers international and the Professional Photographer's 1991 Gerhard Bakker Award for distinguished contribution in Visual Education.

He holds the degrees of Honorary Master of Science in Professional Photography from Brooks Institute of Photography, and Honorary Professor of Photography at East Texas State University and Sam Houston University in Huntsville, Texas.

Tony Corbell "Lighting Control"

18 Sept. 4 p.m., 19 Sept. 2 p.m., 20 Sept. 11 a.m., 23 Sept. 4 p.m.

Tony L. Corbell, photographer, educator, technical lighting specialist and Manager of Corporate Communications from Hasselblad USA Inc. will give you a thorough understanding of quality-of-light and illustrate how to apply that understanding for more effective lighting control.

Tony L. Corbell has taught lighting at the internationally renowned Brooks Institute of Photography and produced the Finelight series of books and tapes by Dean Collins, and will in this Photokina Seminar also explain his theories on photographing people and products the same way in his approach to utilizing various types of lighting to create shape, depth and roundness in the images.

Related Post:

New Ownership at Hasselblad (24-01-1996)

HASSELBLAD

www.hasselblad.se

Peter Saul: New Paintings, George Adams Gallery, NYC

Peter Saul: New Paintings
George Adams Gallery, New York
September 20 – October 31, 1996

George Adams Gallery presents an exhibition of new paintings by Peter Saul. 

The paintings in the exhibition, all completed in 1996, cover a wide range of subject matter, including current affairs (OJ Simpson and Newt Gingerich), art history (the Mona Lisa, Dali and Duchamp), and even art criticism (a double portrait of Hilton Kramer and Peter Schjeldahl committing suicide). 

The exhibition also features Peter Saul's first still-life painting, one of his most animated compositions to date.

GEORGE ADAMS GALLERY
50 West 57th Street, New York, NY 10019
www.georgeadamsgallery.com

Nikon Pronea 6i APS SLR Camera

Nikon Pronea 6i Advanced Photo System single lens reflex (SLR) camera

Nikon Pronea 6i APS SLR Camera

(c) Nikon

Nikon introduces the new Pronea 6i, Nikon's first Advanced Photo System single lens reflex (SLR) camera. The Pronea 6i combines Nikon's renowned SLR quality and innovation with the advantages of the Advanced Photo System. It features a comprehensive selection of Nikon SLR technological advances such as 3D Matrix Metering, Focus Tracking with Lock On™ and a built-in wide-angle coverage speedlight with automatic balanced fill-flash control.

"Customers appreciate the simple operation that is associated with Advanced Photo System cameras such as Nuvis by Nikon. Features such as drop-in film loading, all-auto operation, print aspect ratio (PAR) and picture quality improvement (PQI) have quickly become popular features," said Richard LoPinto, Nikon's vice president, photo marketing division. "In the Pronea 6i, the advantages of Advanced Photo System are combined with Nikon's formidable high-performance SLR design. The result is that any photographer can make better pictures, not just through simple operation, but through the synergy of the Advanced Photo System features with the Pronea 6i's high-performance, " said LoPinto.

Pronea - Nikon's New Advanced Photo System SLR System

The name PRONEA was chosen to indicate the beginning of a newly advanced system. PRO - for forward, advanced thinking, and NEA - for the beginning of a new opportunity for photographers. PRONEA will symbolize Nikon's Advanced Photo System Single Lens Reflex system development.

A key component for Nikon designers was to ensure that the new Pronea 6i would appeal to owners of AF Nikkor optics. To accomplish this, the advanced Nikon F Lens mount was employed; this is the same lens mount that is used for Nikon's advanced 35mm SLR cameras. The result is that photographers can use all AF Nikkor lenses, including AF Nikkor optics together with a selection of Nikon's 35mm SLRs and the new Pronea 6i. In addition to the expansive AF Nikkor lens system, Nikon will also introduce a selection of three new IX-Nikkor lenses, designed exclusively for the Pronea 6i (see related release).

Great Handling

The Nikon Pronea 6i is sleek and stylish, with a new shape for easy handling. Its light weight, combined with very quiet operation, is expected to be an appealing combination for today's photographers. Added versatility comes from its extra-large, illuminated, very-easy-to-see LCD panel positioned on the camera's back. The Pronea 6i is ergonomically proportioned, making it easy to grip and comfortable to use. Operating buttons, Command Dial controls and related displays are located conveniently close to each other, and the camera's vertical neck strap connectors enhances balance when the photographer carries the camera with a strap.

A bright, easy-to-see viewfinder complements the Nikon Pronea 6i. Because the viewfinder is made with an optical glass prism, picture composition will be easy to accomplish, even under dim-light conditions. And for precise composition, what photographers see in the viewfinder corresponds virtually 100% with what appears on pictures printed at a Certified Advanced Photo System Processing Lab.

The shutter has a 4-blade front and rear curtain. Its fast flash sync speed is 1/180 second, and its complete shutter speed range is from 30 sec. to 1/4000 sec. in 1/2 EV steps.

"With the new Pronea 6i, it is easy to take the power the camera has and apply it in a creative and exciting way," said LoPinto. "The camera takes the Advanced Photo System's benefits of ease of use and picture quality improvement, and gives them a whole new meaning to make even greater pictures."

Nikon Pronea 6i Features and Performance Light Meters

The Pronea 6i features Nikon's exclusive 3D matrix metering system, which controls exposure for nuances of brightness and contrast, making it perfect for photography in quick-changing light conditions, or whenever the photographer doesn't want to (or can't take the time to) adjust exposure controls manually.

As soon as the shutter release is pressed, the meter's sensors read the scene's light pattern and evaluate it for brightness and contrast. When used with an IX-Nikkor or a D-type AF Nikkor lens, the meter incorporates exposure control information with subject-distance information for more precise exposure calculations.

The camera also includes center-weighted and spot metering for creative photographers who want more personal control. Originally developed by Nikon, center-weighted metering offers 65% center-weighted concentration of meter sensitivity to shoot backlighted portraits or large groups. Spot metering concentrates nearly 100% of the meter's sensitivity into a 2.5mm circle at the viewfinder's center. Used primarily for manual exposure control, spot metering allows photographers to make exposure readings from tiny areas of light. Exposure Control

The Nikon Pronea 6i offers a comprehensive selection of exposure control features: Vari-Program, Program, Shutter Priority, Aperture Priority and Manual exposure control. Exposure compensation with a range of +/- 5 EV in 1/2 step increments, built-in exposure/flash bracketing and built-in flash exposure compensation for use with automatic balanced fill-flash ensure a versatile range of creative control for the advancing photographer. Autofocus and Manual Focusing

The Nikon Pronea 6i's high speed, high sensitivity autofocus system features extra wide-area focus detection -- covering a 7mm horizontal and 3mm vertical area of the finder. Wide-area coverage facilitates keeping the focus detection area on moving subjects, and makes composition of off-center subjects easier to accomplish. The wide-area sensor also includes a cross-sensor at its mid-point. The entire wide-area, cross-type AF sensor operates with all AF Nikkor lenses, even those with an aperture as small as f/5.6. Subjects in light as dim as EV 0 (at ISO 200) are easily detected.

The Nikon Pronea 6i's autofocus system offers wide-area and spot autofocus, as well as Focus Tracking with Lock-On at motor speeds up to 3.3 frames per second (fps). With manual (or preset) focus, film advance speed increases to 3.5 fps. Autofocus with Focus Tracking and Lock-On assure consistently sharp focus, even in difficult changing situations. Manual focus is clearly confirmed with the built-in Electronic Rangefinder. When manual focusing is accomplished, an in-focus signal appears in the viewfinder.

Built-in Flash

The Nikon Pronea 6i's built-in speedlight incorporates many of Nikon's advanced flash and fill-flash technologies. Ultra-wide flash coverage will handle all IX-Nikkor optics, and AF-Nikkor lenses to a focal length of 20mm. The advanced built-in speedlight also enables 3D Matrix balanced fill-flash, rear-curtain sync, slow synch, red eye reduction, flash output level compensation and flash exposure bracketing.

The Nikon Pronea 6i also includes an ISO type hot-shoe which accepts compatible Nikon TTL controlled speedlights such as the advanced SB-26 and SB-27. The extra versatility and power provided by these Nikon speedlights expands the Pronea 6i's picture taking potential.

Nikon Pronea 6i's Advanced Photo System Features Magnetic Information Exchange

The Pronea 6i incorporates the Advanced Photo System's Magnetic Information Exchange (IX). This feature uses the magnetic coating on IX240 film to record specific exposure information for each picture taken. The recorded data can then be read by the photofinisher's processing equipment, enabling improvements in picture quality printing. The Pronea 6i accepts all ISO film speeds from 6-10,000. Film loading, film advance and rewind are automatically activated. Mid-roll Film Change

Nikon Pronea 6i incorporates a mid-roll film change feature. Mid-roll film change enables photographers to change IX240 film cartridges in the middle of a roll. This versatile feature enables switching to a film with different ISO to match the lighting conditions, or to dedicate a roll of film to a specific subject, switching film as the subject changes. Using the mid-roll film change feature is handled automatically by the Pronea 6i.. Basic and Advanced Modes

The Nikon Pronea 6i offers both a Basic and an Advanced mode, with each mode's functions indicated in the LCD panel. Basic Mode includes six program exposure control modes - portrait, sport, hyperfocal, silhouette, landscape and close-up. Also included in basic mode operation are print aspect ratio (PAR) selection, and print quantity -- a feature that allows users to indicate different quantities of prints to be made from the indicated negative -- auto exposure lock, self-timer and title/language selector.

With the Nikon Pronea 6i's Advanced Mode, all the basic features are available, plus the Advanced Mode features of multiple exposure; exposure compensation, for experimenting with more complex lighting variations; and exposure/flash bracketing, for creating a different "feel" with various exposures of the same scene. The Pronea 6i Advanced Mode also includes an Aperture Priority Auto Mode and Manual Exposure control mode.

Date Imprint

To help photographers remember details about their pictures, date and time can be printed on the front of the picture with the Pronea 6i PRINT function. Date and time are always printed on the back of the picture using the Advanced Photo System's IX System. Depending on the services offered by each photofinisher, other data that can be printed on the back includes lens aperture, film speed, shutter speed used, exposure metering mode, focal length and title (i.e. -- Christmas, birthday, wedding, vacation, etc.). Titles can be printed in different languages, including English, Spanish, French, Italian, German, Japanese and more. A maximum of 80 characters can be printed on the back of the photo, and the language designation can be changed at any time. PQI and PAR

In addition to data imprint, the Nikon Pronea 6i also offers the advantages of the Advanced Photo System's picture quality improvement (PQI) and print aspect ratio (PAR). Please refer to the accompanying press information for additional details about picture quality improvement, print aspect ratio, Certified Processing Labs and more. Lens Compatibility

Among Advanced Photo System SLR cameras, the Pronea 6i offers a remarkable selection of interchangeable lenses. Nikon's AF Nikkor, AF-I Nikkor and AF-S Nikkor lenses provide exceptionally versatile optical performance. The new IX-Nikkor optics are particularly appealing with their extra-compact size and light weight.

Since Pronea 6i uses a 16.7 x 23.4mm format, it will use only a center portion of the image available from an AF Nikkor lens; this will modify the effective focal length of the AF Nikkor for use with the Advanced Photo System format. When using an AF Nikkor lens, multiply the AF Nikkor's focal length by 1.25 to determine its effective focal length used with the Pronea 6i. For example, if using an AF Nikkor 50mm lens, the effective focal length with the Pronea 6i will be 62.5mm. With a 60mm Micro lens, the effective focal length will be 75mm.

Extra-Large, Illuminated Liquid Crystal Display and Viewfinder Information Display

The Nikon Pronea 6i incorporates an extra large back panel LCD. This comprehensive, easy to read LCD displays all appropriate settings for Basic and Advanced Mode shooting. Information includes: metering modes, shooting modes, focus area (wide or sport), focus modes (Single or Continuous), multiple exposure selection, all speedlight functions, a choice of three print aspect ratios (Classic, Panorama, and H-type full-frame shots) and many other important camera settings. Pronea 6i's use of a neck strap hinge is designed so the photographer can view the extra large LCD comfortably with a neck strap attached. The LCD display can be illuminated under low light conditions and will turn off automatically after a picture is taken.

The viewfinder information display is easy to see and understand. Frame lines on Nikon's BrightView focusing screen enable photographers to compose for their selection among the Picture Aspect Ratios. For low light composition, red LEDs are used around the perimeter of the screen to highlight the PAR which has been selected. Also included in the viewfinder are: metering modes, shutter speed and aperture, an analog display for manual metering, flash ready light, and exposure compensation indicators.

Quick Recall Function

The Pronea 6i incorporates Nikon's popular QR (Quick Recall) function. Photographers can easily set their favorite combinations of modes and controls. With QR the photographer can instantly recall their choice of three pre-selected combinations of favorite camera settings. For example, if a photographer enjoys low light flash photography with special motion effects, the appropriate settings can be stored into Quick Recall. QR operation is quick, easy and intuitive.

Command Dial Control

There are two command dials on Nikon Pronea 6i for convenient camera control. The Main Command Dial is easily accessed with the photographer's thumb, and is used to control selection of shutter speeds, Flexible Program and other exposure settings. The Sub-Command Dial is operated with the photographers index finger, and is used to control the aperture, print quantity order, language codes and other functions. Along with the two command dials, there are clearly identified buttons for frequently used functions which facilitate Pronea 6i's ease of use.

Additional Features

Pronea 6i can be used with Nikon's standard AR-3 (ISO Type) Cable Release which is essential for slow shutter speed or remote operation. Pronea 6i also features a ten second self timer -- great for letting the photographer get in the picture.

Batteries and Film Capacity

The Nikon Pronea 6i is powered by two (2) 123A type 3 volt batteries. Fresh batteries should power approximately 16 rolls of 40 exposure IX240 film with 50% flash pictures. Results can vary, depending on the percentage of flash pictures taken. Fewer flash pictures will result in a significant increase in battery life.

Delivery Schedule: The Nikon Pronea 6i is scheduled for delivery during December 1996. 

NIKON USA

www.nikonusa.com

Rudolf Stingel at Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles - New Works

Rudolf Stingel: New Works

Margo Leavin Gallery, Los Angeles

7 September – 5 October 1996

Margo Leavin Gallery presents an exhibition of recent works by Rudolf Stingel. The exhibition, which marks Rudolf Stingel’s first one-person show at Margo Leavin Gallery, includes paintings, sculpture, and a large-scale installation. 

This exhibition is an experience of vibrant color. The viewer is initially encounter a large-scale installation of hand-dyed and hand-seamed carpet. It is the artist’s intention for the viewer to pass through the overwhelming color installation into a more traditional gallery space where a selection of new paintings is installed. The

paintings are follow the artist’s published technique of employing thick oil paint, a compressed air gun, a spatula, and gauze fabric to create beautiful, monochrome fields of aggressive color on canvas.

Rudolf Stingel’s work has been the subject of a solo exhibition at Kunsthalle in Zurich and has been included in exhibitions at the Forum for Contemporary Art, St. Louis, Missouri; the Neue Galerie am Landesmuseum Joanneum, Graz, Austria; the 1993 Venice Biennale; and the Museum Friedericianum, Kassel, Germany.

MARGO LEAVIN GALLERY

812 North Robertson Boulevard, Los Angeles, CA 90069

Fred Sandback at Dia Center for the Arts, New York

Fred Sandback: Sculpture
Dia Center for the Arts, New York
September 12, 1996 - June 29, 1997

American artist Fred Sandback's installation entitled Sculpture, opens to the public at Dia Center for the Arts, 548 West 22nd Street, New York City, on September 12, 1996. The exhibition, located in the second floor gallery, remains on view through June 29, 1997. 

Sculpture is an installation of new works together with older pieces from Dia's extensive collection of Fred Sandback's art. For more than twenty-five years, Fred Sandback has been using linear elements, in particular colored yarns to give physical form, together with impressions of palpability, to the space his work delimits. Defining the boundaries of three-dimensional geometric forms with these minimal means Fred Sandback creates discrete works that co-exist within the continuum of the exhibition space.

Fred Sandback was born in Bronxville, New York in 1943. After studying first philosophy then sculpture at Yale University he moved to New York City where he continues to live and work. Since the late 1960s Sandback has exhibited extensively in the United States and internationally, and his work is represented in the collections of The Museum of Modern Art, New York, The Whitney Museum of American Art, and The National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, among others.

Dia Center for the Arts
www.diacenter.org

Juan Munoz at Dia Center for the Arts, New York

Juan Muñoz: A Place Called Abroad
Dia Center for the Arts, New York
September 26, 1996 - June 29, 1997

Juan Muñoz's installation entitled A Place Called Abroad will open to the public at Dia Center for the Arts, 548 West 22nd Street, New York City, on September 26, 1996.

In creating A Place Called Abroad, Juan Muñoz will transform the 7,500 square foot gallery on Dia's fourth floor into a street-like environment with residual spaces populated by groups of figures. In pursuing his fascination with architecture, Muñoz deconstructs the gallery space, diagonally cutting through existing walls, in order to create a fictional street. Fragments of the pre-existing space remain visible throughout the installation. This overlay of past and present creates a habitat for Muñoz's figures.

In curator Lynne Cooke's 1995 essay for Parkett, Muñoz's figures are described as "withdrawn, absorbed or otherwise distracted" creating a "dislocated dialogue between spectator and artwork." In contrast, Muñoz's newly created figures engage with each other and transform the space into settings for exchange and display.

Juan Muñoz was born in 1953 in Madrid, Spain, where he continues to live and work. Since his first solo show in 1984, Juan Muñoz has exhibited widely. This is his first major one-person show in an American museum.

Major funding for this exhibition has been provided by the Lannan Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, the Spanish Cultural Ministry, Placido Arango and the members of the Dia Art Council.

Dia Center for the Arts
www.diacenter.org