galleryplatform.la
Vera Lutter
Fragments of Time Past
January 7–20, 2021
Nothing is solid in memory. Our minds only hold on to traces, outlines—and that is what my photographs portray.
—Vera Lutter
Gagosian is pleased to present Fragments of Time Past, a selection of photographs by Vera Lutter online for galleryplatform.la.
Since the 1990s, Lutter has used a camera obscura to produce large black-and-white photographs of buildings, landscapes, and urban and industrial sites. Reveling in the directness of this technique, she produces unique prints that imbue physical environments and buildings with an ethereal stillness. Reinterpreting familiar panoramas, Lutter erases fleeting human presence and collapses the movement of wind and water in long-exposure images that prompt reflection on the passage of time.
In Fragments of Time Past, Lutter depicts four different ancient and historical sites: the pyramids at Giza, the ancient Greek temples at Paestum, the eleventh-century Maria Laach Benedictine abbey in Germany, and the distinctive waterways and buildings of Venice during the city’s yearly acqua alta flood season. Presented in a monochromatic photonegative palette, these iconic landmarks and relics take on a new and uncanny visual life: lively canals are smoothed to glossy stillness and solid ground drops away, leaving behind skeletal architectural structures silhouetted against black skies.
#VeraLutter
Vera Lutter in her studio, New York, 2020. Artwork © Vera Lutter. Photo: Lukas Vogt
Related News
Tour
Vera Lutter
Museum in the Camera
Friday, January 29, 2021, 3–4pm EST
Join Los Angeles County Museum of Art director Michael Govan and the museum’s associate curator of contemporary art Jennifer King for an insightful conversation and tour of the exhibition Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera. Between February 2017 and January 2019, Lutter documented LACMA using a camera obscura, creating photographs that examine the museum’s exterior architecture, gallery interiors, and permanent collection. Museum in the Camera features the compelling photographs made during this two-year residency. To watch the live event, RSVP at lacma.org.
Installation view, Vera Lutter: Museum in the Camera, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 29–August 9, 2020. Artwork © Vera Lutter. Photo: © Museum Associates/LACMA
Video
Vera Lutter
Museum in the Artist’s Camera Obscura
This short film, produced by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art (LACMA), features rare behind-the-scenes footage of Vera Lutter, her assistants, and the LACMA staff, filmed during the artist’s residency at the institution. Lutter and museum curator Jennifer King offer their insights into the artistic process and discuss the meanings they find in these dreamlike photographs.
Still from “Vera Lutter: Museum in the Artist’s Camera Obscura”
In Conversation
Vera Lutter
Martin Barnes
Friday, May 18, 2018, 2:30–3:30pm
Somerset House, London
photolondon.org
On the occasion of Photo London, Vera Lutter and Martin Barnes, senior curator of photographs at the Victoria and Albert Museum, will speak about Lutter’s exploration of light, time, and movement and her use of a room-sized camera obscura to capture architecture, urban landscapes, and industrial sites. The pair will also discuss her decision to retain the negative image and refrain from multiplication or reproduction. To attend the event, purchase tickets at photolondon.org.
Vera Lutter, Cold Spring, IX: February 17, 2014, 2014
Francesca Woodman
Ahead of the first exhibition of Francesca Woodman’s photographs at Gagosian, director Putri Tan speaks with historian and curator Corey Keller about new insights into the artist’s work. The two unravel themes of the body, space, architecture, and ambiguity.
Now available
Gagosian Quarterly Spring 2024
The Spring 2024 issue of Gagosian Quarterly is now available with a fresh cover design featuring Jean-Michel Basquiat’s Lead Plate with Hole (1984).
Sofia Coppola: Archive
MACK recently published Sofia Coppola: Archive 1999–2023, the first publication to chronicle Coppola’s entire body of work in cinema. Comprised of the filmmaker’s personal photographs, developmental materials, drafted and annotated scripts, collages, and unseen behind-the-scenes photography from all of her films, the monograph offers readers an intimate look into the process behind these films.
Prosperity’s Long Song #1: At Lights-Out Hour
We present the first installment of a four-part short story by Arinze Ifeakandu. Set at the Marian Boys’ Boarding School in Nigeria, “Prosperity’s Long Song” explores the country’s political upheavals through the lens of ancient mythologies and the mystical power of poetry.
Mount Fuji in Satyajit Ray’s Woodblock Art, Part II
In the first installment of this two-part feature, published in our Winter 2023 edition, novelist and critic Amit Chaudhuri traced the global impacts of woodblock printing. Here, in the second installment, he focuses on the films of Satyajit Ray, demonstrating the enduring influence of the woodblock print on the formal composition of these works.
Adaptability
Adam Dalva looks at recent films born from short stories by the Japanese writer Haruki Murakami and asks, What makes a great adaptation? He considers how the beloved surrealist’s prose particularly lends itself to cinematic interpretation.
Not Running, Just Going
Robert M. Rubin’s Vanishing Point Forever (RideWithBob/Film Desk Books, 2024) explores the production, reception, and lasting influence of Richard Sarafian’s 1971 film. In this excerpt, Rubin discusses the pseudonymous screenwriter Guillermo Cain (Guillermo Cabrera Infante), the famous Kowalski car, and how a nude hippie biker chick became the Lady Godiva of the internal combustion engine.
On Frederick Wiseman
Carlos Valladares writes on the life and work of the legendary American filmmaker and documentarian.
You Don’t Buy Poetry at the Airport: John Klacsmann and Raymond Foye
Since 2012, John Klacsmann has held the role of archivist at Anthology Film Archives, where he oversees the preservation and restoration of experimental films. Here he speaks with Raymond Foye about the technical necessities, the threats to the craft, and the soul of analogue film.
Whit Stillman
In celebration of the monograph Whit Stillman: Not So Long Ago (Fireflies Press, 2023), Carlos Valladares chats with the filmmaker about his early life and influences.
Lisa Lyon
Fiona Duncan pays homage to the unprecedented, and underappreciated, life and work of Lisa Lyon.
Game Changer: Alexey Brodovitch
Gerry Badger reflects on the persistent influence of the graphic designer and photographer Alexey Brodovitch, the subject of an upcoming exhibition at the Barnes Foundation, Philadelphia.