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News — Coming to Light

El bordo / The Border, © 1989, photograph by Antonio Turok
El bordo / The Border, © 1989, Antonio Turok

RELEASED May 14, 2014

SAN MARCOS, TX—The Wittliff Collections at Texas State University in San Marcos recently opened Coming to Light, a photographic exhibition showcasing additions to their dynamically growing holdings.

On view are works from 42 internationally acclaimed and emerging photographers, recently acquired and shown by the Wittliff for the first time. The images range from portraiture and the Southwest’s natural and invented landscapes to themes related to Mexico’s history, beauty, and cultural impact upon the United States.

The photographic processes represented are just as diverse; among them are tintypes, gelatin silver prints, chromogenic prints, and archival pigment prints. Works of note include: Missing #1, a photo installation by San Antonio photographer Kathy Vargas; the modern masterpiece Instrumental by Manuel Álvarez Bravo; an alien figure in Lobby, Roswell by Rocky Schenck; and Murder by Execution, a historical image by Robert Runyon depicting the horrors of the Mexican Revolution.

Kate Breakey, Keith Carter, Lee Friedlander, Graciela Iturbide, Richard Misrach, Geoff Winningham, and Mariana Yampolsky are just a few of the other luminaries whose work is on display. Also on view are the Wittliff's first acquisitions of prints by such exceptional photographers as Mark Klett, Norman Mauskopf, Wyatt McSpadden, Laura Pickett-Calfee, Al Rendon, Holly Reed, and Amanda Smith.

Recently procured images of Mexico by Yolanda Andrade, J.B. Colson, Marco Antonio Cruz, Antonio Turok, and others speak to the Wittliff’s commitment to maintaining one of the world’s most significant repositories of photographs related to the country and created by its documentarians and camera artists.

Coordinated by Carla Ellard, curator of the Wittliff’s Southwestern & Mexican Photography Collection, with assistance from student intern Erik Garcia, Coming to Light is presented in the original galleries, which are complemented by authentic Saltillo tile.

The Wittliff Collections are on the seventh floor of the Alkek Library at Texas State University in San Marcos, Texas.

FEATURING WORKS BY

Yolanda Andrade  |  Frank Armstrong  |  Jayne Hinds Bidaut  |  Tami Bone  |  Jim Bones  |  Byron Brauchli  |  Manuel Álvarez Bravo  |  Kate Breakey  |  Laura Pickett Calfee  |  Keith Carter  |  J.B. Colson  |  Marco Antonio Cruz  |  Dennis Darling  |  Faustinus Deraet  |  Lee Friedlander  |  Jesse Herrera  |  Graciela Iturbide  |  David Johndrow  |   Mark Klett  |  Luis Márquez  |  Norman Mauskopf  |  Wyatt McSpadden  | Pedro Meyer  |  Richard Misrach  | Rodrigo Moya  |  Michael O’Brien  |  Holly Reed  |  Al Rendon  |  Jeff Rowe  |  Robert Runyon  |  Josephine Sacabo  |  Joel Salcido  |  Rocky Schenck  |  Amanda Smith  |  Jack Spencer  |  Antonio Turok  |  Kathy Vargas |  Jeff Wilson  |  Geoff Winningham  |  Bill Wittliff  |  Bill Wright  |  Mariana Yampolsky


OTHER EXHIBITIONS ALSO ON VIEW