America the Beautiful: the Monumental Landscape of Clyde Butcher

Exhibit Dates:
January 28 - April 15

Exhibit Hours:
Monday: 12 noon - 8 p.m.
Tuesday through Friday: 9:30 a.m. - 5:30 p.m.
Saturday: 9:30 a.m. - 4 p.m.
Sunday: 1 - 5 p.m.

Extraordinary black and white photographs of the acclaimed photographer Clyde Butcher will be on display at Central Library and the adjacent James J. Hill Reference Library.

The exhibition on display, “America the Beautiful: The Monumental Landscape of Clyde Butcher,” will consist of 50 large-scale, black and white photographs of the American landscape, spanning beautiful sites across the United States, from the coast of Maine, to the Badlands, to Hawaii.

The Artist

Clyde Butcher's monumental photographs celebrate the beauty of the American landscape. Their scale and extraordinary clarity set them apart as exceptional works of art. In the tradition of the nineteenth-century Hudson River School painters Butcher composes his works at pristine and untarnished locations across the United States creating arresting compositions that distinctly mark him as the foremost landscape photographer in America today.
His Technique

The beauty of Clyde Butcher’s photographs is enhanced by the epic scale of his stunning black and white works. The exceptional size of his compositions – the largest being 5 by 9 feet – allows the viewer to experience the beauty of the site from an almost first-hand perspective. Their large dimensions, combined with their strong sense of fluidity and movement, allow his work to transcend the static nature of the photographic medium.

El Capitan, by Clyde ButcherButcher’s ingenious photographic technique enables him to capture breathtaking detail within his images. Shooting with wooden Deardorff cameras from the 1940s, he creates an extraordinary depth of field through a synthesis of wide-angled lenses and a small lens opening. The remarkably large negatives, combined with orange and blue filters and a longer-than-average exposure time (up to 10 minutes), allow for stunning clarity and astonishing detail in his compositions.
His Passion

Clyde Butcher is known nationally as an avid conservationist who uses his art to help preserve America’s environment. His most recent projects include work for Rocky Mountain National Park, Delaware Water Gap National Recreation Area, Audubon Society, The Nature Conservancy, Wilderness Society, Everglades National Park and many other environmental organizations in the state of Florida where he lives. He has been honored by innumerable organizations, including the Sierra Club, which has given him the Ansel Adams Conservation Award, and Public Broadcasting in an award-winning half-hour documentary of his work.

A new PBS documentary is devoted to Butcher’s work and efforts to preserve the Everglades National Park, photographs of which also appear in the Ken Burns documentary, The National Parks: America’s Best Idea.

Sponsors
This exhibition is presented by the Saint Paul Public Library and the James J. Hill Reference Library, with the Metropolitan Library Service Agency (MELSA) and The Friends of the Saint Paul Public Library.

Distributed by Exhibits Developments Group in cooperation with the Muscarelle Museum of Art, College of William and Mary.

The exhibit and associated programming is funded in part with money from the vote of the people of Minnesota on November 4, 2008 which dedicated funding to preserve Minnesota’s arts and cultural heritage.

Media Sponsors:
Pioneer Press Twincities.com
MinnPost.com


Exhibition lighting, track and fixtures installed by Mayer Electric.
Program Partner: Mississippi National River and Recreation Area