Memory Is a Strange Bell: The Art of William Christenberry
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Ogden Museum of Southern Art 925 Camp Street, New Orleans, Louisiana 70130
William Christenberry
"Initation," 1964, Oil acrylic, collage elements and tar on canvas, 102 x 132.5 inches, Courtesy of the Belger Foundation.
Artist William Christenberry, long hailed as a pioneer in establishing color photography as a fine art medium, will receive a wide-ranging career survey at the Ogden Museum of Southern Art this fall.
The exhibition will feature a selection of his iconic photographs of Hale County, Alabama, alongside drawings, paintings, sculptures, assemblages, and installations, positioning his acclaimed photography practice within the context of his broader oeuvre. Memory Is a Strange Bell: The Art of William Christenberry will also explore the importance of poetry to the development of Christenberry’s vision and approach, highlighting the ways in which the artist’s engagement with poetry enhanced his ability to infuse simple tableaus with meaning and emotion. The exhibition will be accompanied by scholarly texts by the exhibition curators, Bradley Sumrall, Curator of the Collection at the Ogden Museum, and Richard McCabe, Ogden Museum Curator of Photography, as well as an essay by renowned director, photographer, and cinematographer RaMell Ross, whose credits include the highly praised documentary Hale County This Morning, This Evening and who will receive his own solo exhibition at the Ogden Museum in 2020. ogdenmuseum.org.