Exhibition of photographs by legendary Colorado photographer Laura Gilpin November 7, 2008

LAURA GILPIN Masterworks

presented at the Byers-Evans House Gallery

A comprehensive exhibition of photographs by legendary Colorado photographer Laura Gilpin (1891-1979) opens Friday, November 7, at the Byers-Evans House Gallery and continues through Wednesday, December 31. There is an opening reception during the First Friday Art Walk, Friday, November 7, from 5 - 9 p.m. (Press Preview Reception from 4 to 5 p.m.). The Byers-Evans House Museum is located at 1310 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado. Hours are 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., Tuesday through Sunday. Admission to the Byers-Evans House Gallery is free and this show will be one of the GTMD free art shuttle’s stops.

Laura Gilpin Masterworks consists of over 40 platinum and silver prints spanning Gilpin’s six decades as an artist in the American Southwest. Images from all periods of her career will be on display, including rare examples of her pictorial period and her exemplary documentation of the Navajo during the depression years and later, a demographic overlooked by the WPA photographers of the time.

Laura Gilpin, whom Ansel Adams called “one of the most important photographers of our time,” was a true westerner – independent and self-reliant throughout a life often marked by difficulties and financial insecurities. Born in 1891, and raised in Colorado Springs, she began photographing in 1903 at the age of twelve, and continued until her death in Santa Fe in 1979. As one of the few significant women landscape photographers, Gilpin photographed the American Southwest for more than sixty years, creating an extraordinary document of the land and its people. A contemporary of Mary Austin, Willa Cather, and Georgia O’Keeffe, Gilpin is recognized today not only as one of Colorado’s most important photographers along with William Henry Jackson, but like Jackson, one of America’s most significant photographers.

Gilpin is best known for two bodies of work. Between 1917 and 1935, she made a series of Pictorial photographs printed on textured platinum and silver print papers. Her subjects were in soft focus of western landscapes, Mayan ruins, still lifes, and portraits that exemplified the finest early twentieth century Photo-Secession art movement. Beginning in the early 1930s and continuing throughout her life, she made sharper images of Pueblo and Navajo Indians and a great body of work on the Rio Grande from the Colorado headwaters to the Gulf of Mexico. On view are masterworks reflecting her long career that mirrored the stylistic changes that occurred in American photography over three-quarters of a century.

Laura Gilpin Masterworks was curated by Paul and Teresa Harbaugh with images brought together from the Native American Trading Company, Denver; the Andrew Smith Gallery, Santa Fe; The Pikes Peak Library District, Colorado Springs; and from the Evans family collection.

The Byers-Evans House Museum is located at 1310 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado. Hours are 11:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m. Tuesday through Sunday, and guided tours are available. Admission to the Byers-Evans House Gallery is free. For further information, visit www.coloradohistory.org/be or call (303) 620-4933.

The Byers-Evans House Gallery
Laura Gilpin Masterworks
A comprehensive exhibition of photographs by Colorado photographer Laura Gilpin.
Nov. 7 - Dec. 31
Opening reception during the First Friday Art Walk, Friday, November 7, from 5 - 9 p.m.
Daily Hours: 11 a.m. to 3 p.m., Tues. - Sun.
1310 Bannock Street, Denver, Colorado.
Admission to the Byers-Evans House Gallery is free.
For further information, visit www.coloradohistory.org/be or call (303) 620-4933