Farnsworth Art Museum
Rockland, Maine
(207) 596- 6497
Natural Lighting: Landscape Photographs by Melville McLean
"Natural Lighting: Landscape Photographs by Melville
McLean" opens at the Farnsworth Art Museum on Sunday, October 18.
These images in color by one of Maine's most prominent photographers will hang in the Farnsworth's Craig Gallery through January 31, 1999.
Mr. McLean, based in Lewiston, is a photographer of fine
art and an expert in the artificial lighting of cultural objects. As an
artist, Mr. McLean's subject is the living landscape, and his lighting is
gloriously natural. He uses the brilliant clarity of sunlight to focus on
the rhythmic detail of nature that ultimately composes the landscape. He
shows us the changing weather, the living plants, the moving water and the
enduring rock. The photographs in his Farnsworth exhibition were taken in
Maine, British Columbia and Prince Edward Island.
"My landscape photography expresses my love of, and
response to, the special light, form, space and mood of a particular place
at a particular moment in time. I am also fascinated by the powerful, ancient
geological forces on the land and the much newer forces of life - those
of plants even more than those of humans, which have only recently adapted
to it. My photographic vision has been formed primarily by three factors
- the intensive study of light and color, the study of both historical text
and original works of art with gifted scholars and artists, and a wanderlust
that became ardent after seeing many of our planet's greatest natural wonders
during an 18-month trip around the world," Mr. McLean says.
The exhibition is curated by Dr. Susan C. Larsen, who is the Farnsworth's chief curator.
From top to bottom: Lake Auburn Maine, 1995, 18 x 22 inch chromogenic print; Sandy River, Maine, 1997, 18 x 22 inch chromogenic print; Seacliff Fence, P. E. I., 1997, 18 x 22 inch chromogenic print; all images copyright Melville McLean.
rev. 11/22/10
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