Nature Morte: Platinum Prints by Bruce Katsiff
October 4, 2014 - January 25, 2015
For more than thirty years, photographer Bruce Katsiff has worked on the series Nature Morte. He collects the remains of birds and mammals—skulls, skeletons, bones, and feathers—which he arranges with other objects in his studio. His orderly compositions, evoking Renaissance cabinets of curiosities, are captured with a large-format view camera and printed in platinum and palladium. Surprisingly beautiful, Katsiff’s photographs present a haunting meditation on mortality. Former Director and CEO of the James A. Michener Art Museum (1991–2012) and Professor and Chair of the Art and Music Division at Bucks County Community College, Katsiff has exhibited widely in solo and group exhibitions in Pennsylvania and New York.
To view large images and caption information, click below.
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- The Helix, 1989, printed 2013. Bruce Katsiff (born 1945). Platinum/palladium print, 12 x 20 inches. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Santa Bannon / Fine Art
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- The Cabinet of DrFoto, 1990. Bruce Katsiff (born 1945). Platinum/palladium print, 20 x 24 inches. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Santa Bannon / Fine Art
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- Dancing Feet, 1987, printed 2013. Bruce Katsiff (born 1945). Platinum/palladium print, 19 3/4 x 15 3/4 inches. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Santa Bannon / Fine Art
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- The Sleep of Peace, 1988, printed 2012. Bruce Katsiff (born 1945). Platinum/palladium print, 16 x 20 inches. Collection of the artist. Courtesy of Santa Bannon / Fine Art
Catalogue
A richly-illustrated catalogue will accompany the exhibition and includes an essay by Delaware Art Museum Curator Heather Campbell Coyle; a foreword by Peter Barberie, Brodsky Curator of Photographs at the Philadelphia Museum of Art; and a brief history of the platinum process by photographer Thomas Shillea.
The hardcover book is 80 pages and printed in quad-tone.
Click here to order catalogue.
ORGANIZER & SPONSORS
This exhibition was made possible with the support of Julian and Lois Brodsky and Gerry and Marguerite Lenfest.
Additional Support is provided by grants from the Delaware Division of the Arts, a state agency dedicated to nurturing and supporting the arts in Delaware, in partnership with the National Endowment for the Arts.