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Bruce
Katsiff and Thomas Shillea: Masters of the Platinum Print at Monsoon
Gallery
November 4th - 30th
Special opening and reception with both artists: November 4, 7-9pm
as part of Bethlehem's First Friday.
In the early days of photography, the platinum print was everywhere.
Photographers in the 19th century created platinotypes, as did early
20th century masters such as Alfred Stieglitz, who prized the printing
method for its velvety tones and unrivaled beauty. However platinum
printing eventually gave way to less expensive, but sadly less beautiful
methods.
A handful of devotees, however, remain committed to keeping the
platinotype alive in the 21st century. Two of these practitioners,
Bruce Katsiff and Thomas Shillea, are master photographers living
and working in Eastern Pennsylvania, where they will be showing
their work together in a one-of-a-kind exhibition.
Thomas Shillea has had a long and distinguished career as a photographer,
working in fields as diverse as advertising, fine art, and portraiture.
(He’s photographed everyone from Presidents to movie stars.) He’s
also a highly regarded educator, currently serving as Director of
Art Programs at Northampton Community College. In his varied and
storied career as a photographer, however, nothing has captured
his passion as much as the platinum print.
Shillea became familiar with the technique while studying at the
Rochester Institute of Technology and interning at the George Eastman
House in the late 1970s. He has spent the past three decades working
to revive the platinum print and master its intricacies going as
far as publishing a platinum printing manual and history of the
platinum print. It is the perfect medium for his the breathtaking
and sensual photographs of the human form. His images are in the
permanent collections of many major museums including the Smithsonian,
the George Eastman House and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.
Bruce Katsiff is perhaps best known as Director/CEO of the James
A. Michener Art Museum, which he has led to meteoric growth over
the past two decades. But Katsiff is the rare museum director who
never stopped creating art of his own. Photography has been his
life’s work. He first exhibited as a seventeen year-old student
at Philadelphia’s Central High; his pictures have since been displayed
in the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Philadelphia Museum
of Art, and museums around the world.
Katsiff has experimented in a variety of subjects and styles through
a career that has seen a great deal of technological change. But,
like Thomas Shillea, he has spent a great deal of time going against
the grain and mastering the rarified art of platinum printing. His
platinotypes are beautiful and evocative, displaying hidden beauty
in complex constructions.
Together, Katsiff and Shillea represent the exquisite range of possibilities
which can be achieved with platinum printing. Monsoon Gallery in
Bethlehem, PA is proud to host these two virtuoso photographers
and to give art-lovers the rare chance to see a platinum print up-close.
Click here to view Bruce Katsiff's Work
Click here to view Thomas Shillea's Work
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