SIMPLY BEAUTIFUL

Exhibition: October 21– November 23, 2010
Reception and Booksigning: October 21, 6-8pm

Steven Kasher Gallery is pleased to present an exhibition of limited edition prints from the National Geographic Image Collection. Simply Beautiful will feature thirty-five large-scale color photographs by over 25 National Geographic photographers. For the first time, the Image Collection’s vast archive of over 11 million images has been culled down to a concentrated selection representing the essence of beauty. These singular photographs have been transposed from their original National Geographic documentary narrative context into the realm of fine art.

The exhibition will be accompanied by the release of a new book: National Geographic Simply Beautiful Photographs edited by award- winning National Geographic photographer Annie Griffiths. Griffiths chose remarkable images from the Society’s core mission areas: exploration, wildlife, culture, science, and nature. In her investigation of what creates beauty in a photograph, she has included chapters on light, composition, moment, time, palette and wonder.

This unique collection of images reveals the aesthetic range and depth of National Geographic’s world-renowned photographic staff. Examples are: azure bottlenose dolphins by Annie Griffiths, Stephen Alvarez’s haunting silhouettes of Moai figures on Easter Island, Kenneth Garrett’s verdant juxtaposition of a monkey strolling by an ancient Mayan tomb, Michael Nichols’ woman shrouded by gauze in a dark Trinidadian hotel room, Randy Olson’s candid of an old man lingering before a weathered Mississippi storefront and a sprinting cheetah in Botswana by Chris Johns.

The criterion for selection was visual delight. “We wanted a set of images that would transport the reader to a beautiful place, be that space physical, emotional, or spiritual,” writes Maura Mulvihill, vice president, National Geographic Image Collection in her foreword to the book. “Encouraged by the words of Ralph Waldo Emerson, ‘Beauty is its own excuse for being,’ we decided the book should take us to a world of beautiful dreams, memories, and meditation.”

In 2009, National Geographic embarked on a concerted program to proliferate the treasures of the Image Collection through fine art exhibitions and sales to museums and private collectors. Simply Beautiful is the third of a series of Image Collection exhibitions being mounted at Steven Kasher Gallery in an ongoing collaboration.

The book’s editor Annie Griffiths earned a degree in photojournalism from the University of Minnesota. Since then she has photographed dozens of magazine projects for National Geographic. Her work also has appeared in Life, Geo, Smithsonian, Merian, Paris Match, Stern and many other publications. She devotes a portion of each year to producing fundraising images for aid organizations.

Simply Beautiful will be on view October 21 – November 23.

Steven Kasher Gallery is located at 521 W. 23rd St., New York, NY 10011.