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1 1 THE INDEX, Saturday, March 24, 1928
AMATEUR and professional
devotees to photography
from far and near
have contributed to the fifteenth
annual Salon of the Photographic
Section of the Pittsburgh
Academy of Science and
Art, which opened in the Carnegie
Galleries March seventeenth,
to continue until April
fifteenth. Each year sees an increasing
interest, both at home
and abroad, in this Salon. In the
present show thirteen countries,
in addition to the United States,
are represented.
By way of showing that it is
not an easy matter to be passed
by the Salon jury, out of the fifteen
hundred prints submitted
only three hundred and thirty
were admitted to the exhibition.
A hasty glance through the
catalog leaves the impression
that the majority of the contributors
are one-print men; the
highest number of photographs
accepted from any one contributor
is four and among the
group that has attained this distinction
there are only eight.
They are Frank Drtikol, of
Prague; Nicolas Haz, of New
York City; Holmes I. Mettee, of
Baltimore; George H. Morse, of
Pittsburgh; William M. Rittase,
of Philadelphia; John Skara, of
Chicago; Paul Wierum, of the
Chicago Camera Club, and
Isamu Yasuda, of Los Angeles.
To the casual observer, the
subjects of this year's entries
seem far more diversified than
have been those of preceding-
Salons. One is impressed by the
scarcity of subjects that have
been photographed for beauty's
sake alone. Rather has the
photographer taken the unusual,
provided by Nature or by his
own efforts at arrangement.
There is the usual plenitude of
prints that picture the mighty
forces of industry, mills, behind
and above which are the dense
clouds of smoke and steam of
the full-power operation that
spells prosperity; the gleam of
shining steel rails that form a
part of some giant railroad system;
barges, bridges and impressive
civic projects. The
still life craze that has so completely
swept the ranks of those
artists who wield brushes and
bespeak their artistic message
Pittsburgh's A n n u a l P h o t o g r a p h i c S a l o n
in colors, seems to have invaded
the photographic world with
equal vim. If you like them, the
walls of Carnegie Galleries will
spread before you still lifes in
great array. One wonders why,
in capital letters, when the gaze
falls upon some; others amuse
and still others receive only indifferent
glances. These may be
most marvelous examples of
those mystic processes known to
the initiated as bromide, bromoil,
chloride, carbo, palladium
or the dear only knows what
else, but to the poor ignoramus
of a layman blundering through
the show, they have no interest.
He has spotted a beauty farther
down the line and is going for it
as fast as he can. And when he
arrives he usually stands transfixed
before the grace and beauty
that the camera has caught
for him and which the photographer,
with his eerie knowledge
of those aforementioned mystic
processes, has brought out and
enhanced by means of his own
inate artistry and craftsmanship.
For there are some very
lovely things in this Salon of
which Pittsburgh is justly
proud, some things that are close
akin to and quite as beautiful as
etchings. There are quaint
scenes, both at home and in far
countries, that make one want
to go on the trail of them; there
are pictures that show sharp
contrasts in methods of living;
in geography and in the various
estates in which man finds himself
in this world.
"THE MOORING PLACE"
By George H. Morse, Pittsburgh.
Oddities there are, and many
of them. One marvels at the
keen perception of the artists
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who have been so clever in recognizing
the pictorial value of
the homely, the every day.
How many for instance would
have taken as a study in
shadows, that cast by the
kitchen sink spigot? But that
is what Gordon H. Coster, of
Baltimore, has done. In his picture,
beneath the spigot, is a
homely family stewpan, a colander
hangs nearby. This doesn't
sound a bit thrilling, but if you
go and see for yourself you will
change } our mind! Not so enticing
are some of the other
oddities, which come under the
still life title. For instance, the
prosaic, every day collars that
Bruce Metcalfe, of Weston, Ontario,
Canada, chose to photograph.
One asks why? A little
better is T. K. Shindo's picture
of a plate, a knife and an apple
or two that he has been pleased
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