John Muir (standing) & John Burroughs at the Grand Canyon (1909) PHOTO by Karl Moon

Opening June 8 and running through August 28, 2010 at Etherton Gallery, A Grand View: Arizona Landscape Photography 1871-2010, is an historical survey of landscape photographs, featuring a selection of images by more than 30 photographers including: including: Ansel Adams, Linda Connor, Forman Hanna, Eliot Erwitt, Timothy O’Sullivan, Richard Misrach, Frederick Sommer, as well as nationally known Arizona photographers including William Lesch, Jay Dusard, Edward McCain, and many more.

Sahuaras (1890) PHOTO by Willis P. Haynes

Cactus Tree, Arizona (1875) PHOTO by Elias A. Bonine

Grand Canyon of the Colorado River, Mouth of Kanab Wash Looking West (1872) PHOTO by William Bell

A Grand View features work from individual artists and Etherton’s extensive inventory by some of the most important masters of the medium, illuminating our long standing and storied fascination with Arizona. Beginning with the first government sponsored surveys of the West, Timothy O’Sullivan’s Black Cañon, Colorado River from Camp 8, Looking Above (1871), made for the US Geological Survey, is an image of a man seated in a boat with a box of camera equipment, dwarfed by the jagged canyon walls that frame the image. Although O’Sullivan could only hint at the roaring motion of the river, the image creates the impression of Arizona as a dangerous uncharted frontier, when the transcontinental railroad was just 100 miles away.

Medicine Wheel, Sedona, Arizona ( 1989) PHOTO by Debra Bloomfield

Among the contemporary works included in A Grand View is Santa Catalina Sunset, Arizona (2001) by Jeff Smith, a large format color photograph that romanticizes the wild beauty of Arizona’s monsoons. Smith’s use of color — saturated velvety blues and inky blacks — heightens the contrast with the dramatic veins of lightning that dominate the Tucson city lights below. William Lesch’s black and white topographic view of the Tucson valley, Developing Thunderstorm over the Tucson Valley, Triptych, August, 2006 makes clear that Arizona’s beauty resides in its treasured wide open spaces and the lofty clouds that rise and fall as they pass over the valley. A Grand View captures the paradox of Arizona, its great cultural history, natural beauty and iconoclastic spirit, reminding us why we call Arizona home.

Motel, Southern Arizona (2007) PHOTO by Scott B. Davis

Canyon de Chelly (1910) PHOTO by Roland Reed

Seen and Not Seen PHOTO by Ken Rosenthal

A Grand View: Arizona Landscape Photography 1871-2010 opens June 8 and runs through August 28, 2010. Etherton Gallery is located in SoCo at 135 S. 6^th Ave., in downtown Tucson, AZ. Summer hours are Tuesday – Saturday, 11am-5pm and by appointment. For information about the exhibition please contact Etherton Gallery at (520) 624-7370 or info@ethertongallery.com