Barbara Bosworth, Indigo Bunting, 2003, Chromogenic development print on paper, 18-1/4 x 23-1/4", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.22.

Barbara Bosworth, Latourelle Falls, Columbia River Gorge, Oregon, 1993, Gelatin silver print on paper, 9-5/8 x 23", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.15.

Barbara Bosworth, Yellowstone National Park, Wyoming, 1989, Gelatin silver print on paper, 7-5/8 x 19-3/8", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.11.

Barbara Bosworth, National Champion Elliottia, Georgia, 2002, Gelatin silver print on paper, 9-5/8 x 23, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.9.

Barbara Bosworth, National Champion Coast Redwood, California, 1994, Gelatin silver print on paper, 9-5/8 x 23", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.7.

Barbara Bosworth, Artist's Bluff, White Mountain National Forest, New Hampshire, 1991, Gelatin silver print on paper, 9-5/8 x 15-1/2", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.12.

Barbara Bosworth, Untitled, from the series The Bitterroot River, 1995-1997, Gelatin silver print on paper, image: 7-5/8 x 9-5/8", American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.30.

Barbara Bosworth, Untitled, from the series The Bitterroot River, 1995-1997, Gelatin silver print on paper, image: 7-5/8 x 9-5/8", American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.30.

Smithsonian
American Art Museum and the National
Portrait Gallery
8th and F Streets, NW
202-633-1000
Washington, D.C.
2nd floor, South Wing
Earth and Sky: Photographs by Barbara Bosworth
June 20-
November 9, 2008

Nature's strength, endurance, and fragility are captured in the dynamic work of Barbara Bosworth (b. 1953). Best known for photographs of National Champion trees — the largest identified example of each species in the United States — Bosworth creates panoramic images using a unique method that combines multiple large-format negatives in a single print. This exhibition, which celebrates a recent gift of the artist's work, features thirty-nine of Bosworth's photographs, including The Bitterroot River series, an extended narrative sequence that deals with loss and recovery, and her most recent color photographs of songbirds and the New England landscape surrounding her home near Boston. While Bosworth's subjects appear direct and straightforward, her images are notable for their grace and emotional resonance. Surveying two decades of her photographs, this exhibition reveals an artist who speaks with singular passion and sentiment for the American landscape.

Toby Jurovics, curator for photography, is the exhibition curator. Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson generously donated the photographs in this exhibition. The Bernie Stadiem Endowment Fund supports the exhibition of Earth and Sky: Photographs by Barbara Bosworth.

Born in Novelty, Ohio in 1953, Barbara Bosworth names the deep forest surrounding her family's home as the earliest influence on her photography. She works like a naturalist, collecting specimens of flora and fauna, tracing the profiles of mountains and rivers, taking careful measure of the world with her lens. Rather than a simple accumulation of facts, however, her photographs describe a world far richer than the sum of its parts. Bosworth seeks fluid, transient elements of the landscape that are less easily categorized, unfolding a personal and spiritual connection to the world around us. Her prints, made exclusively with a large-format view camera, capture the afternoon light shimmering though the forest canopy or the mercury-like surface of a river with elegance and emotional resonance. This exhibition surveys two decades of her career, revealing an artist who speaks with a singular passion and sentiment for the American landscape.

Photographer Barbara Bosworth focuses on landscape photography and is particularly interested in the interrelatedness of man and the natural environment. Subdued and ironic, her work often reveals the sacredness of the land and the effects of human encroachment. She has frequently photographed the stripping of the land for suburban and agricultural use, documenting the construction of golf courses, cemeteries, and farming tracts over unspoiled lands. Bosworth's keen observation has also captured many quiet moments in nature, through images of Yellowstone National Park, Niagara Falls, and the National Champion trees of Ohio, among others.

Bosworth received her MFA in 1983 from Rochester Institute of Technology. She has taught at the Massachusetts College of Art since 1984. Her work has been included in many exhibitions across the United States, including the National Museum of American Art in Washington, D.C. and the Cleveland Museum of Art. She has been a recipient of Guggenheim and Ruttenberg fellowships. She lives in Somerville, Massachusetts.

Barbara Bosworth, Former National Champion American Elm, Kansas, 2001, Gelatin silver print on paper, 7-5/8 x 19-3/8", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.10.

Barbara Bosworth, Untitled, from the series Meadow, Carlisle, Massachusetts, 2003, Chromogenic development print mounted on aluminum, sheet and image: 32 x 40", Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Haluk Soykan and Elisa Frederickson, 2008.2.25.