LEWIS BALTZ AND JUAN LAURENT: Baltz and Laurent: The Minimalist and the Romantic View of Architecture, Selections from the Joseph and Elaine Monsen Collection

Joseph Clayes III Gallery

LEWIS BALTZ AND JUAN LAURENT

Baltz and Laurent: The Minimalist and the Romantic View of Architecture

Selections from the Joseph and Elaine Monsen Collection

January 17–February 28, 1998

Athenaeum members and part-time La Jolla residents Joseph and Elaine Monsen began collecting photography in the late 1960s. Thirty years later, today, they have assembled one of the most important private photography collections in the United States. The exhibition included 25 photographs from this collection by two very different photographers: Lewis Baltz and Juan Laurent. Baltz, a 20th century photographer known for his images of public spaces, industrial parks, and construction sites, represents a minimalist approach to photography. His work can be seen as “a reflection of human failure, a failure of the imagination that allows the land to be altered, undermined, and abused to provide for our needs...” Juan Laurent, a 19th century photographer, represents the romantic view of architecture, photographing ornate cathedrals and Rococo buildings. In conjunction with the reception, a display of antique Kodak cameras from the collection of Bill Price were on display in the Music Room display case.