Perceptions

PERCEPTIONS

THE SAN FRANCISCO MUSEUM OF ART

A PHOTOGRAPHIC SHOWING FROM SAN FRANCISCO • 1954

EDWARD WESTON

WILLIAM BLAKE

MAN IS LED TO BELIEVE A LIE WHEN HE SEES NOT THRO' THE EYE

PERCEPTIONS represents no specific group. Nevertheless it is an affirmation by the photographers participating in it, for they have a vital principle in common.

Their attempt is to see through, not merely with, the eye; to perceive with the inner eye, and by an act of choice to capture the essence of that perception. This is the very core of the creative process, which, when tapped successfully in any medium, communicates to the beholder that fabled sense of fulfillment, of having discovered unsayable but lasting values with which to live.

NOTES ON THE EXHIBIT

PERCEPTIONS represents spontaneous action from the photographers themselves. What began a year ago with informal meetings culminated in the discovery that a growing body of exciting new work existed. Much of it was unknown outside the area, some of it unknown even in San Francisco. An impromptu studio exhibit indicated that here were photographs worthy of a wide audience. Furthermore, there had been no comprehensive showing of serious local work for many years, although San Francisco has been a particularly lively area for creative photography for more than twenty years. Why not then gather a group of prints, from photographers both well-known and unkonwn, that would represent the generative forces particular to San Francisco photography? This idea was presented to the San Francisco Museum of Art, and with its generous cooperation PERCEPTIONS has come into being. It is selected and designed by the photographers.

No attempt is made to cover photography’s many functions, but only those appropriate to a museum. The photographs were originally taken in response to an inner urge. Their reason for being is themselves. PERCEPTIONS honors this approach, and therefore presents the prints straightforwardly, without editorializing or otherwise imposing on them. On the walls, they are untitled and unsigned, so that each one must quietly stand or fall on its intrinsic visual merits. The text consists of brief quotations of esthetic principles relating to visual arts. We have added nothing more. We believe the members of our audience prefer their own responses to any that we might manufacture and for their use.

Dody Warren