PULLMAN, Wash.–Rod Slemmons, cocurator of the current Washington State University Museum of Art exhibit, “American Photographs: 1970 to 1980,” will discuss 1970s photographic art in a lecture set for Tuesday (Jan. 20).
The 7:30 p.m. talk, “American Photography in the 1970s: A Twenty-Year Reunion,” is set for the Fine Arts Auditorium. A reception follows the lecture.
Slemmons, who curated the American photography collection in 1979 with Terry Toedtemeier, will examine the careers of the photographers in the exhibition.
“The late 1970s marked a sharp turning point in photography as an art form in the United States,” Slemmons said. “Some of the artists had already begun to change with postmodern times while others did not survive the radical shift, and still others ignored the situation and have continued on their own methodical way.”
Slemmons has curated and produced 35 exhibitions since 1978. He teaches photography and the history of photography at the University of Washington.
The photography collection belongs to the Washington Art Consortium, which is comprised of seven Washington museums that joined together in the 1970s to purchase art that none of the museums could afford individually. Consortium members include WSU; Western Gallery and the Whatcom Museum of History and Art, both in Bellingham; the Tacoma Art Museum; the Henry Art Gallery in Seattle; the Seattle Art Museum; and the Cheney Cowles Museum in Spokane.
The exhibition continues through Feb. 1, but is closed Monday (Jan. 19) for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday. It is open Monday-Friday from 10 a.m.-4 p.m., Tuesday from 10 a.m.-10 p.m. and weekends from 1-5 p.m.
Funding for museum exhibitions and programs is provided by WSU and the Friends of the Museum of Art. A portion of the museum’s general operating funds for the fiscal year has been provided through a grant from the Institute of Museum and Library Services.
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