Ray Atkeson, one-time recipient of the 1986 Governor’s Award for Arts in Oregon, may have died almost 20 years ago, but his photographic legacy lives on at the University.
Until Aug. 12, some highlights from Atkeson’s extensive career as a landscape photographer will be on display at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art in an exhibit titled “Images of Oregon.”
“Images of Oregon,” a series of 11 black-and-white photos printed on gelatin silver paper, is appropriate for a centennial-year tribute to Atkeson, who would have been 100 in February. A Midwestern transplant, Atkeson loved the Pacific Northwest so much that he moved to Portland in 1929 and devoted much of his life to capturing Oregon with his camera.
“We were fortunate that Special Collections at the Knight Library acquired archives of Atkeson’s photo career,” said Larry Fong, associate director and curator of American and regional art at the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art. Fong chose to feature the images to show another side of Atkeson, who is more well known for his later, color photographs, many of which are featured in photography books.
An avid hiker, skier and mountain climber, Atkeson often combined his passion for photography with that of the outdoors. He especially loved Mount Hood, one of his photographic staples and the place he and his wife, Mira Crane, referred to as “our mountain.”
“Wintry Moon” depicts Mount Hood’s Timberline Lodge, a particularly eye-catching winterscape, in large part because of the stark contrast between the dark night sky and the bright virgin snow.
In “Frozen Forest” two skiers stand atop the snowy mountain and marvel at a stand of crystallized evergreens. Like “Wintry Moon,” “Frozen Forest” is characterized by radiant, dramatic lighting. Atkeson’s trick was to hike up the mountains in the middle of the night, ensuring that he’d be able to shoot from the summit at dawn.
Atkeson is particularly celebrated for photos like “Wintry Moon” and “Frozen Forest” because the predominant white of the snow can be difficult to shoot in black-and-white, particularly on a light background.
“Photographing winter scenes in black-and-white is an incredible challenge,” Fong said. “He was known for being a technician in his ability to do that.”
Eugenean Judy Harold went to see “Images of Oregon” on its July 18 opening. More familiar with his color photos, she saw Atkeson’s mid-century black-and-whites for the first time at the exhibit.
“I’m tickled to see his work from this period,” said Harold, who ended up preferring it to the more recent photos she had seen in a coffee table book.
“They’re so much more subtle,” she said. “I love them.”
While snowy scenes may have been Atkeson’s roots – as an amateur with an old-fashioned box camera in Kansas City, Mo.,, he won an award for a photo of a snow-covered train station – his overall portfolio was much more varied and diverse.
Other “Images of Oregon” include a bird’s eye view of a hayfield during harvest time, an action shot of a fisherman reeling in a salmon, a panoramic view of the twinkling lights of Portland at night, and Harold’s favorite: “War Worker,” a portrait of a woman who worked in a shipyard during World War II.
“Looking at this, it just hits home because my father worked in shipyards in Portland,” said Harold, who was also fascinated that the 60-year-old photo was of a female laborer.
These 11 photos were chosen from about 10,000 photos, slides, negatives and matted prints donated to the library’s special collections last year by Atkeson’s family.
“The selection was to somewhat touch on specific subjects he continued to work on, be it people in their workplace or landscapes,” Fong said.
Atkeson often documented Oregonians in their natural environments, such as orchard laborers, dam builders, fisherman and, like the woman in “War Worker,” shipyard workers.
But unlike Harold, “War Worker” is not Fong’s favorite “Image of Oregon.” Fong said he simply can’t choose a favorite. He likes them all.
“I tend to find black-and-white photos very appealing,” Fong said. “It’s very abstract in a way, but it’s still very accessible in detail and content. It’s an interesting effect.”