Edward Ranney Photographs: The John B. Elliott Collection

Exhibition monograph. One of the most important collections of landscape photography ever assembled in one museum. Published on the occasion of the exhibition held at the Princeton University Art Museum from February 15 through June 3, 2003. Presents a selection from the Complete Set of 100 landscape photographs acquired by the late philanthropist John B. Ellitt specifically for the Museum, to which he bequeathed the bulk of his personal collection of photographs, Primitive and American art, and Chinese calligraphy. To judge from the examples in this catalog, it is not surprising why Elliott was a devoted collector and admirer of Edward Ranney's landscape photographs. Ranney took photographs that had "an essential connection to the real world, a world in which the legacy of past cultures and their places of sacred significance is evident. Each of his photographs embodies a part of the past that rises up and stimulates intellectual curiosity and visual sensibility" (Peter C. Bunnell). There were two decisive moments in Ranney's life: His stint in Peru as a Fulbright Fellow and his subsequent decision to become a photographer. He cast himself in the mold of such figures as Robert Adams, William Clift, Robert Frank, David Plowden, Paul Strand, Minor White, Edward Weston, Paul Caponigro and Thomas Joshua Cooper. The last two (and their antecedents, Timothy O'Sullivan and Carleton Watkins) became the most abiding influences on his work. Ranney brought his remarkable scholarly and artistic talents to brilliant use: He mastered the Spanish language and helped bring Peruvian photography to the attention of the West, notably the work of the great Martin Chambi. He completed and published three major projects: "Stonework of the Maya", "Monuments of the Incas" and "Prairie Passage", from which the Elliott Collection is drawn. 2005, ModernRare.com