Bill Christenberry

Brownies

August 24 through November 10, 2019

On view in the Hughes and Wilson Galleries

Overview

Working in various media, Bill Christenberry’s (1936–2016) photographic work brought him the most recognition. Using a Brownie camera, Christenberry captured the rural landscapes of his home state of Alabama and he often focused his lens on Hale County, where he spent many summers as a child. Reflecting on the development of his work and style, Christenberry observed, “I wanted to deal with the landscape. What I call the landscape of my childhood, things I grew up with in Alabama, both the positive and the negative.”

Traveling back every summer from his home in Washington, D.C. (since 1968), Christenberry tracked the changes in the environment by repeatedly photographing–from year to year–various buildings and the surrounding landscape. These images focus on the changes in what the artist terms “vernacular architecture,” primarily the rapidly vanishing structures from the 1920s and 1930s. The resulting photographs become detailed records of a particular time and place and are stunning representations of the rural south.

Above: Photograph of the 2019 installation of the exhibition at the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts.

“I wanted to deal with the landscape. What I call the landscape of my childhood, things I grew up with in Alabama, both the positive and the negative.”
— Bill Christenberry

Organizer

Organized by the Montgomery Museum of Fine Arts, Montgomery, Alabama.

Sponsor

Support for this exhibition was provided in part by a grant from the Alabama State Council on the Arts.

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