SFMOMA (Venue Partner)
151 Third St.
415-357-4000
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A turning point in the history of photography, the 1975 exhibition New Topographics signaled a radical shift away from traditional depictions of landscape. Pictures of transcendent personal experiences of nature—snow-covered peaks rising over a mountain lake, pristine wildflowers, gently undulating farmland—gave way to unromanticized views of stark industrial landscapes, suburban sprawl, and everyday scenes not usually given a second glance. With nearly 150 photographs, this restaging of the exhibition includes the work of all 10 photographers from the original show: Robert Adams, Lewis Baltz, Bernd and Hilla Becher, Joe Deal, Frank Gohlke, Nicholas Nixon, John Schott, Stephen Shore, and Henry Wessel. Their photographs of cheap motels, gas stations, tract homes, trailer parks, and parking lots ref lect the complex relationship between humans and the environment and represent a crucial bridge between the once-insular photography world and the larger field of contemporary art.
