| June 8 – September 7, 2008
William Wegman: Fay
Kress Gallery
When we first met in Memphis, Tennessee, she was six months old
and her name was Cinnamon Girl. I named her Fay after Fay
Wray, of course…Her fur was taupe…and she had yellow eyes like
in a Rousseau painting… In a short time Fay matured from a
coltish youth into a Garboesque beauty. My pictures grew with her.
Now she was the muse, the adored one. Skin-deep beauty became
the soul of my work.
William Wegman, Polaroids, New York, 2002
William Wegman is a pioneering artist known for photographs,
videos and books featuring his menagerie of Weimaraner dogs.
William Wegman: Fay celebrates the artistic partnership of Wegman
and his beloved canine muse, Fay Ray. For ten years, their lives
were creatively entwined, resulting in a
brilliant body of photographic work for
which Wegman and Fay are especially
known. Their odyssey as partners in life
and in art is explored in a rich array of
photographs from the William Wegman
Studio, New York City, many of which
have rarely or never been exhibited
publicly. Selected 20 x 24-inch Polaroids,
chromogenic prints and gelatin silver prints
will be featured, as will be associated
video segments and film.
Coming of age in the 1960s, with
degrees in painting and printmaking,
Wegman was an early exponent of conceptual
art throughout his career. Wegman has experimented with a wide range of media—film, kinetic sculpture, installation and performance—and is a pioneering maker of video. Photography captures his interest as well.
Because
of his formal training as a painter, Wegman often identifies himself
as “a resident alien in the world of photography,” and retains
an outsider’s ability to characterize his observations simply. After
twenty-some years of photographing Weimaraners in various guises,
Wegman notes that dogs are bred to work with humans, stating
that, “Despite my silly photographs, it’s serious work and the dogs
take it seriously.”
Lee
A. Vedder, director of collections and exhibitions, is site curator for this exhibition.
William Wegman: Fay was organized by the Allentown Art Museum in
collaboration with the William Wegman Studio, New York.
Contributing support provided by The Leon C. and June W. Holt Endowment and Viamedia.
Sustaining support provided by The Audrey and Bernard Berman Endowment Fund.
Additional support provided by Nic Zawarski and Sons.
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William Wegman, American b. 1943
Out of Box, 1987
One of two color Polaroid panels
Courtesy of the artist
William Wegman, American b. 1943
Armature, one of three panels, 20x24
inch
Polaroid, 1988
Courtesy of the
artist |
