By Suzanne Révy
Creating a collection of photographs can be as expressive an act as making them. The pursuit of images reveals the passions of a singular vision and gives rise to dialogs between sometimes disparate ideas. Frazier King is an accomplished photographer and collector whose own work alongside an assemblage of others’ “constructed” imagery has been published in “The Collector’s Eye” (Schilt, 2020) with essays by King, Wendy Watriss and Madeline Yale Preston. This beautiful book takes readers on a journey through King’s artistic pursuits and influences, with enlightening anecdotes about his relationships with photographers and the acquisition of each print.

The Collector’s Eye: A Photographer’s View of His Contemporaries by Frazier King, Schilt Publishing, 2020, (book photographed by Suzanne Révy)

Jerry Uelsmann, Untitled, 1983, Gelatin Silver Print, 13” x 10 ½ ” from the book, The Collector’s Eye, courtesy Schilt Publishing.
The plates open with a simple composition by Jerry Uelsmann, which we learn was King’s first print purchase in 1990. It would be another decade of experimenting with his own work before King began seriously collecting, after meeting several photographers at Foto Fest Meeting Place in 2000. Three of King’s still-life pictures are included in the collection, two from his “Tableau Portfolio” and one from his “Orchidaceae Portfolio” which recall the early modernist and surreal photographs of Imogen Cunningham, whose transcendent “Triangles” is also included in the book. To see King’s work as a photographer in conversation with his vision as a collector offers readers a unique perspective on his abiding interest in “the constructed photograph.”

Frazier King “Untitled No. 2” 1998, from the Tableau Portfolio, selenium toned gelatin silver print, courtesy of the artist and Schilt Publishing.

Diane Ducruet, Underwears, 2000-2009, archival pigment print with unique hand written text, courtesy of the artist and Schilt Publishing.

Alison Rossiter “Dassonville Charcoal Black Sketching White, expired 1949, processed 2017” gelatin silver print as reproduced in The Collector’s Eye by Frazier King (Schilt), courtesy of the artist and Yossi Milo Gallery, NYC. (Book photographed by Suzanne Révy)
King further demonstrates his passion for the technical aspects of the medium by describing various processes employed in his collected photographs. He begins by sharing work that was constructed in the printing process: Photo Mandala’s by Milan Yana Blatny, who moved the photographic paper by 90 degrees under the enlarger; Diane Ducruet’s unique prints that include handwritten text; and Alison Rossiter’s imaginative use of expired photo papers to create an abstract horizon. King expounds that the horizon “represents in nature where the earth touches eternity – where there is a possibility to transcend.”

Susan Dunkerley Maguire, “Window Collage with Lily” 1997, from the Window Collage series, toned gelatin silver print, courtesy of the artist and Schilt Publishing.

John Chervinsky “In Motion, At Rest” 2005, from An Experiment in Perspectives, courtesy of the estate of the artist and Schilt Publishing.
Works made by constructing scenarios for the camera are found Susan Dunkerly Maguire’s dreamy compositions weighted with symbolism and in John Chervinsky’s explorations of photographic perception in “An Experiment in Perspective,” offering viewers a glimpse into the breadth of possibilities in still-life. King also embraces camera-less and scanner imagery with Cara Barer’s books and Elaine Duigenan’s scanned nylons, hairnets and her sublime ferns. The manner in which both Barer and Duigenan reduce objects to their bare essence is profoundly transformative. They are on the one hand a simple scan of an object and on the other, a wondrous alien that could appear from outer space or possibly from under the microscope.

Elaine Duigenan, “Maidenhair Fern” 2016 from the Blossfeldt’s Apprentice series, archival pigment print, courtesy of the artist and Schilt Publishing.
Madeline Yale Preston’s illuminating essay offers insight into the pedagogy and history of the “constructed” or “directed” photograph. It is followed by a smaller group of pictures that are more documentary, including several landscapes and several photographs by the late Elaine Ling, which reveal the detritus of her Polaroid negatives. In addition to Ling’s prints, a contact sheet presented alongside a finished print from a selected frame of an empty theater by Keith Carter serve to emphasize King’s appreciation of photographic mechanisms. “The Collector’s Eye” is an alchemy of experimental processes with the imaginative sequencing of King’s personal work staged in concert with his collected photographs.
For more information
https://www.schiltpublishing.com/shop/books/new-releases/the-collectors-eye/
If collecting photography is of interest, then check out our review of W.M. Hunt’s book, The Unseen Eye and The Thrill of the Chase: The Wagstaff Collection at the Getty by Paul Martineau. https://www.whatwillyouremember.com/suzanne-revy-reviews-photo-book-collections-of-samuel-wagstaff-and-wm-hunt/

(Featured Image) Andrés Wertheim, “Munich #1 (Das Goldene Zeitalter, Lucas Cranach d.Ä ca 1530 Alte Pinakothek, Munich)” 2014 from the Museum’s Ghost series, courtesy of the artist and Schilt Publishing.