Terrific Show at Baltimore Museum of Art

[c6h6o3]

"Looking Through the Lens: Photography 1900-1960" is at the Baltimore Museum of Art through June 8.

Overall I thought the show lacked focus. There was a lot of the usual stuff you'd expect to see in such a survey exhibition (some Adams, Margaret Bourke-White, Brassai, Atget all pretty uninspiring and some absolutely dreadful Paul Outerbridge prints) but there are some gems in this show which just about brought tears to my eyes. You just have to swim through a lot of chaff to get to the kernels of good stuff.

There were some fine Edward Weston prints (and some not so fine) but the highlight of the show for me was the Frederick Sommer cameraless abstract and the Aaron Siskind print next to it. Also, a unique collaboration between Horst and Salvador Dali, exquisitely printed.

If you're in the area it's certainly worth a few hours of your time.