
Eliot Porter (1901–1990) introduced color to landscape
photography. In so doing, he created a new way of viewing the
world that today has become commonplace. An artist with strong
scientific and environmental interests, Porter took up color
in 1939, long before his fellow photographers accepted the medium,
to produce more accurate photographs of birds. Soon thereafter,
he expanded his focus to celebrate the colorful beauty of nature
in general. Over a fifty-year career that includes works from
Maine to China, he built a broad popular reputation based on
thousands of richly hued prints and twenty-five books. His work
energized environmentalists, drew accolades from museums, and
created the foundations for today’s color nature photography.
In 1990 Eliot Porter bequeathed his professional archives to
the Amon Carter Museum. The core of this generous gift consists
of approximately 7,500 original dye transfer, color photographic
prints and 1,800 gelatin silver, black-and-white photographic
prints covering the breadth of his career. Supplementing these
prints are the artist’s 84,000 original color transparencies
and slides; 4,400 black-and-white negatives; the photographic
components he created in the process of making his dye transfer
prints; and approximately 2,600 work prints. The collection
also holds copies of the artist’s books, portfolios, and
albums; approximately forty linear feet of business papers and
correspondence; his 1,100-volume professional library; a small
assortment of family photographs; photographs given to the artist
by friends and associates; some of his dye transfer printing
equipment; and his work table. This collection guide lists and
describes these various components, while offering an extensive
sampling of the artist’s photographs.
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