_By_ JOHN PAUL EDWARDS
The progress of pictorial photography in the Far West can be aptly
compared with the settlement and growth of this big new country itself.
We have had our pictorial pioneers, as it were—our hard-working,
enthusiastic, rather crude first settlers in the art; now we have come to
the stage of permanent abode, with traditions, albeit young, great
enthusiasm, definite ideals, and ambitious hopes for the future.
The one great asset in the upbuilding of the West has been boundless
enthusiasm. This characteristic trait dominates the very soul of the
Western pictorialist. In it lies his greatest hope for the future
progress in his chosen field of art.
It is this live energy and enthusiasm which brings him out afield even
before break of day, which leads him over hill and dale, mountain and
valley, in his insatiable quest for the pictorial. Miles are as nothing;
hunger stays him not; nor rests he at night until his potential treasures
are developed and their beauties appraised.
The purpose of this preliminary psychologic analysis is to explain the
militant attitude of the Western pictorialist in his pursuit of the art of
the camera. His extremely prolific production, manifesting itself in
liberal contributions to the salons and exhibitions of the world
photographic, rises not from vanity but from super-enthusiasm—from the
great joy he derives in making his picture, from the creation of the
beautiful, and from the playing of the game as it is best played.
Without losing a whit of the steady enthusiasm which has brought it to its
present encouraging stage, Western pictorial photography is, nevertheless,
settling down to a more staid and intellectual plane of progress.
The broad average of quality of work is steadily improving. Better
standards have been established. The workers are “finding” themselves.
Enthusiasm is being beneficently tempered by increased technical skill,
and more particularly by the intellectual development of the art side of
the work.
And so the future of pictorial photography in the Far West looks
exceedingly bright. The salon workers of the past five or ten years are
with few exceptions as keen as ever for their art, and a very talented and
numerous lot of new workers are coming to the front.
The center, in fact the stronghold, of Western pictorial photography is
undoubtedly California. All forms of art seem to flourish mightily in
this genial clime of wondrous, colorful beauty. A land of smiling
sunshine, of lofty snow-capped peaks, of weird trees, of golden
poppy-covered slopes, of sparkling seas—it is small wonder that the young
art of the camera should thrive so vigorously there.
There are several active foci of pictorial interest in the State. The
most active and most promising of these centers is the Camera
Pictorialists of Los Angeles. This club, as we may call it, has a
membership of fourteen under the directorship of Louis Fleckenstein.
Every member is an active worker of ability and promise. This group has
made an imposing representation in nearly every photographic salon of
recent years.
They are sponsors for the International Photographic Salon held annually
in the municipal art gallery of Los Angeles. This exhibition, with two
years of success behind it, must be rated as the premier event of its kind
in the West, and, in the quality of its offerings, second to none on the
continent.
While this is the only prominent group in California organized for
strictly pictorial work, there are a great many independent workers widely
scattered about the State. San Francisco and the bay region can claim a
score or more whose achievements have been notable.
Oregon has many enthusiastic workers and a strong club in Portland.
Washington likewise has many camera artists of talent. Both these States
have an untold wealth of pictorial material and many keen pictorialists.
All they lack is an active leader or two to bring them to the rank they
should hold in the photographic world.
In Salt Lake City we find an active, enthusiastic and very promising group
of workers under the able leadership of Thomas O. Sheckell. Through the
medium of an extensive series of one-man exhibitions they have brought
before the art-loving public of their city the best work of a large number
of our leading pictorialists.
One of the most interesting and auspicious developments of the year has
been the recent formation of the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Pictorial
Photographers of America.
For very logical reasons the chief activities of the parent body of the
Pictorial Photographers of America have been centered in the City of New
York. An earnest desire to enjoy like activities right at home while
still sharing the privileges of direct affiliation with our fellows of the
Pictorial Photographers of America led to the formation of the Pacific
Coast Chapter. The idea is still young, but the success of the chapter is
definitely assured by the strong character of the membership already
secured. It is the purpose of the chapter to uphold strongly the purposes
and ideals of its parent body and to work continuously for the advancement
of pictorial photography in the West. A number of interesting exhibitions
are scheduled for the near future, the most important of these being the
“All Western” exhibition, which is planned for the fall and winter of
1919-20. The aim is to include the best pictorial photography of the
West. It will be shown first in New York by the Pictorial Photographers
of America and then routed through some of the more representative clubs
of the East and Middle West.