WORKS OF INTERNATIONALLY ACCLAIMED PHOTOGRAPHER LYNN DAVIS TO BE EXHIBITED AT THE ALBANY INSTITUTE OF HISTORY & ART

ALBANY, NY—On Saturday, June 16, the Albany Institute of History & Art will open the exhibition PARALLEL PASSAGES: Lynn Davis at the Sites of Frederic Edwin Church. First presented in 2006 at the Nicole Fiacco Gallery in Hudson, NY, the Albany Institute will significantly expand upon the gallery exhibition, nearly doubling the number of major works on view by Lynn Davis. The exhibition will include 10 relevant paintings, drawings, prints, oils sketches and letters by Frederic E. Church borrowed from various public and private collections. The opening reception for PARALLEL PASSAGES will be held on Thursday, June 21 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm during the June Third Thursday program. 

Curated by Donald McKinney and Nicole Fiacco, PARALLEL PASSAGES examines the parallels in subject matter and expedition between the twenty-first century photographer and the nineteenth century painter, Frederic Edwin Church (1826-1900). Church visited and painted many monumental landmarks of nature, including icebergs off the coast of Labrador, the ancient temple of Khazneh in Petra, and Niagara Falls. More than 100 years later, Lynn Davis followed in Church’s footsteps, visiting many of the same sites, and capturing the same spiritual permanence and natural wonders.

PARALLEL PASSAGES presents 17 of Davis’s photographs, ranging in size from 28 x 28 inches to 40 x 156 inches. Davis distills from the landscape pure form and offers “objects of contemplation” through her large silver gelatin prints toned with gold or selenium and Piezo prints. Her compositions reflect the influence of formal abstraction while they search for the spirit or anima of the site. Excerpts from Frederic Church’s travel journals and correspondence complement the images represented in the exhibition. A comparison of Church’s verbal descriptions and Davis’s bold photographs presents two related yet distinctive perspectives: one arising from the voice of nineteenth-century romanticism and the other from the allusions of post-modernism.

Lynn Davis, a resident of the Hudson Valley, received her Bachelor of Fine Arts from the San Francisco Arts Institute in 1970, and has her works represented in the permanent collections of the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Museum of Modern Art, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Houston Museum of Fine Arts, the Whitney Museum of American Art, and the J. Paul Getty Museum. Her photographs have been widely published and reviewed internationally in publications such as The New Yorker, The New York Times, Art in America, ARTnews, Art Forum, Aperture and Vogue.

PARALLEL PASSAGES: Lynn Davis at the Sites of Frederic Edwin Church will be on display from Saturday, June 16 – Sunday, September 2. The opening reception will be held on Thursday, June 21 from 5:30 – 7:30 pm during the Albany Institute’s monthly Third Thursday Program.  

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Founded in 1791, the Albany Institute of History & Art (AIHA) is a 501(c) 3 cultural and educational institution dedicated to public service.  As a museum, its mission is to collect, preserve and interpret the art, history and culture of Albany and the upper Hudson Valley region from the 17th century to the present.  AIHA acquires collections, conducts research, produces publications, and offers a wide range of exhibitions, educational and public programs that appeal to diverse audiences ranging from pre-K to senior citizens.  The museum is open year round, Wednesday-Sunday. Admission is free to members and children under 6, $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and students and $4 for children ages 6-12.  The Albany Institute of History & Art is accredited by the American Association of Museums and chartered by the New York State Department of Education.