THE IMPORTANCE OF

Robin and Summer have been visiting since Friday and on Saturday morning, I lured them to the Nelson-Atkins Art Museum with the curent Monet exhibit. The ticket entry for the Evelyn Hofer exhibit includes the Monet exhibit. So I sort of lured them there under false pretenses because the Evelyn Hofer exhibit was the thing I wanted to see the most. I mean, I love Monet and he’s one of my favorite French Impressionists, but if you’ve seen one (or three all displayed together) waterlilies painting a handful of times, you probably are not impressed to see it again.

But Evelyn Hofer?

My brain was on fire with thoughts and words as I studied each and every one of the photographs in this exhibit. Evleyn Hofer is best know for a series of travel books published between 1959 and 1967. I would consider her to be one of the best and most unheard of photographer (male or female). Borne in Hamburg Germany, she and her family moved to Geneva to escape the Nazis and then later to Madrid. While in Madrid, Evelyn started taking photography lessons. It was never a thought that she would be able to do photography professionally. Her parents encouraged photography as a hobby for her until she found a suitable husband. When Franco came to power, the family moved to Mexico City and this is where she started working as a professional photographer. She moved to New York City in her twenties and began working as a photographer for Harper’s Bizarre. Later on she would collaborate with Mary McCarthy on The Stones of Florence, which led to other book collaborations.

The whole time I was studying Evelyn Hofer’s work I could not stop thinking about the Rule of Thirds. This photography rule is easier to show than it is to describe, so I’ll just link the definition. Evelyn Hofer astringently sticks to the Rule of Thirds. So much so that sometimes the people in the photograph are themselves arranged as the Rule of Thirds. Picture after picture, your eyes are drawn to the object at the bottom left of the picture or the bottom right. Until suddenly you find yourself standing in front of a photo that places the subject of interest smack in the middle. It is a complete breaking of the rule and it forces you to stop and confront the image before you in the most direct way.

And this is what I loved the most.

Evelyn Hofer breaks the rules. It almost feels like when she’s breaking the rule of thirds, she is doing it as a protest to all of the rules. The rules of photography and even more so, the societal rules placed on women. Photography was going to be the nice little hobby she’d do until she was matched up with a suitable man. She did marry but in all of the articles and wikipedia pages about this photographer, the most that is ever mentioned about her husband or marriage is for when she took pictures in Spain for The Presence of Spain, written by James Morris. “She traveled to Spain with her husband.” That’s it. He was part of her personal life in a way that keeps him separated from her artistic life, a trait in men almost unheard of at that time and breaking yet another rule of relationship normatives.

You have traveled a long way. We have been serving the traveler since 1835. What kind of host would I be not to offer you a seat at my humble table? I will treat you, my friend, with the finest snails, a block of Manchego, and a basket of bread. Wait, and there will be another seat and an extra glass for the wine. I only ask one thing of you. Tell me where you come from and where you go and if someone waits for you.

-Jose Faus, poet imaging the voice for The Proprietor of “Caracoles” Barcelona, 1963

I want see my art as an offering to my humble table where I invite you to sit and enjoy the good food and drink. In return for a seat at this table, I only ask for you tell me your own story, to share something of your own art. It is through this shared art experience that we can learn to understand one another, how the lives we have lived and are living shape the art we create. I let my Nelson membership sit expired for months and months this year. It wasn’t until I saw the announcements for this exhibit that I finally renewed it. As I walked through this photography exhibit and then on through the Block Building, I noticed so many new and poignant pieces of art that had been added since the last time I’d been into the museum. It reminded me why my art membership is so important. I left with a clear vision of how to display my photos for the next showing (that’s happening in March of next year) and I left inspired and moved by the new (to me) artists on display.