Sally Mann Exhibition in Washington D.C.

[giganova]

Today was the opening of the Sally Mann exhibition "A Thousand Crossings" at the National Gallery in Washington, D.C. This is the biggest exhibition of her photographic work ever, with 110 of her photos on display. Seeing many of her photos on 40x60 inch silver gelatin prints is truly amazing! The introduction to the exhibit was given by Sarah Greenough, senior curator and head of the department of photographs, who gave an excellent scholarly one hour talk in front of a packed auditorium (roughly 500 people). However:

Bummer #1: To the big disappointment of many, Sally Mann didn't show up (even though one museum employee told me that she was in the building).

Bummer #2: The event was advertised as "followed by a book signing" and many people purchased the exhibition catalog to get it signed by Sally Mann. But guess what? The books were signed by the curator (!) of the exhibition, not by Sally Mann.

Bummer #3: The exhibition catalog costs a whopping $200! 😱 Edit: the pre-signed limited edition catalog is $200; the regular catalog costs $55.-

 

[icebear]

Well, at least the prints were worth attending the opening of the exhibit.

For the 3 bummers ... this is a bad joke. They should have told the audience that the artist will not sign any books and those who would like to return the unopened catalog can do so for a full refund.

 

[Lewis Francis]

Thanks for posting, my office is just a couple blocks away and I've been meaning to check the Obama portraits; will add this to my agenda.

 

[Steve M.]

It looks like it was taken with a Holga.

 

[dwojr]

Thanks for the mini review. Can’t wait to go!

 

[stompyq]

It looks like it was taken with a Holga.

Lol. She uses a 8x10 and beyond.

 

[MISH]

My kids live in DC, I will be visiting in May before the show closes


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[Stefan Wood]

The catalog is $55. The $200 is for a limited signed edition by the artist.

 

[helen.HH]

Great to hear about tge Show !

Bummer she did not attend ... sign books
Hopefully most of those editions were pre signed.

 

[Out to Lunch]

I would consider $200 for a signed catalogue by Sally Mann as an excellent investment. Alas, I am no where near Washington.

 

[Dan Daniel]

I would consider $200 for a signed catalogue by Sally Mann as an excellent investment. Alas, I am no where near Washington.

https://shop.nga.gov/item/748995/sa...ngs-exhibition-catalog-limited-edition/1.html

 

[Out to Lunch]

Thanks Dan...it's back ordered...no worries, eventually, I'll get my copy.

 

[giganova]

Hopefully most of those editions were pre signed.

The signed copies are signed by the curator who edited the book, not by Sally Mann!

 

[Vince Lupo]

Lol. She uses a 8x10 and beyond.

She also uses an M3 -- or should I say she also owns an M3.

I've had two brushes with Sally Mann. The first was at grad school in 1994 at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. She came to my school, as she was friends with a couple of my teachers there (Craig Stephens and Steve Bliss - likely due to their connection to the Maine Photographic Workshops), and she brought these loose 30"x40" prints with her from the 'Immediate Family' series. She was fairly disorganized, and yet brilliant at the same time. Everyone was pretty much in awe of her, her work and these big beautiful prints (an assistant of hers printed them).

My second 'brush' with her (and hence the Leica M3 reference) was years later and came through my camera repair guru and good friend, Frank Marshman. Frank repairs all of Sally's cameras, and they've been friends for many years. Actually two of her prints are currently being shown in Harrisonburg, VA in a group show at the Arts Council of the Valley (and I'm lucky enough to have a print in this show too!). Anyhow, this was a few years ago -- I was talking with Frank on the phone, and he said to me: "You know about old Leica lenses. Sally Mann was asking me about the really old ones, as she has this M3, and she's trying to get this dreamy look and doesn't know which lenses are the best for that. Could you give her a call and help her out?" So Frank gave me her number, and I called her (she lives in Lexington, VA). We talked on the phone for about 1/2 hour about dreamy old Leica lenses -- 73/1.9 Hektor, 50/2 Summar, 50/1.5 Xenon, Thambars etc etc. We were both looking on KEH's website, Leicashop in Vienna, Igor Camera, etc etc. Don't know if she ever followed through on my advice or whether she ended up buying any dreamy old Leica lenses. But maybe I should put on my CV that I was a 'Technical Advisor to Sally Mann' 🙂

 

[Shac]

The signed copies are signed by the curator who edited the book, not by Sally Mann!

The web site advertising the catalogue says
Limited slipcased edition, signed by the artist

https://shop.nga.gov/item/748995/sa...ngs-exhibition-catalog-limited-edition/1.html

 

[Lewis Francis]

The web site advertising the catalogue says
Limited slipcased edition, signed by the artist

https://shop.nga.gov/item/748995/sa...ngs-exhibition-catalog-limited-edition/1.html

I bet the artist pre-signed copies of the book, and the curator also signed/personalized copies. I suspect that's fairly common.

 

[giganova]

Maybe that's the case. When I was at the gallery yesterday, they said all they had was the catalog for $200 and they warned me that the catalog was signed by the editor of the book and not Sally Mann. But maybe that book store employee was mistaken.

In any case, I'll swing by NGA before they close tonight and ask again.

 

[Richard G]

Great story Vince. You sure sat on that one till an appropriate moment. But a ‘brush’ always makes me think of a negative encounter so I was reading with trepidation. Must look it up.

 

[ptpdprinter]

I bet the artist pre-signed copies of the book, and the curator also signed/personalized copies. I suspect that's fairly common.

Why would the curator of an exhibit of a living artist sign the book?

 

[giganova]

I just returned from the National Gallery and asked them about the catalog:

• The regular hard bound exhibition catalog costs $55.- and is readily available.
• They have some regular catalogs that were signed by the curator/editor of the book at the opening of the exhibit because Sally Mann did not attend.
• The special edition catalog is limited to 500 copies, is hard bound with a hard bound cloth slip case, pre-signed and numbered by Sally Mann. It cost $200 but is sold out.

They had one copy of the special edition catalog left and I just bought it! 😀