Press Room

FORT WORTH, Texas — As the nation commemorates the 200th anniversary of the 1804–1806 expedition of Meriwether Lewis, William Clark and their Corps of Discovery, the Amon Carter Museum presents a special exhibition of evocative modern-day panoramic photographs that document the contemporary landscape along the famous expedition’s route. On view from September 25, 2004 through January 2, 2005, “Brent Phelps: Photographing the Lewis and Clark Trail” will feature sixty-six prints, ranging in size from 1-by-3 feet to 2-by-6 feet.

From 1997 to 2002, Texas photographer Brent W. Phelps (b. 1946) made an extensive photographic survey of the trans-Mississippi West explored by Lewis and Clark. Inspired by the dedication and resolve of the Corps, the artist set out to trace their route, beginning in Clarksville, Ind., where Lewis and Clark joined forces in 1803, and ending up at the Pacific Ocean, where the survey team camped in 1805 before returning home.

In his 1813 biography-memoir of Meriwether Lewis, Thomas Jefferson described the explorer as “honest, disinterested, liberal, of sound understanding and a fidelity to truth so scrupulous that whatever he should report would be as certain as if seen by ourselves.” In documenting the contemporary landscape along the expedition’s route, Phelps modeled his methodology on Jefferson’s quotation.

Previous photographic surveys of the historic route sought to depict a romantic, unblemished wilderness and recorded only sites that remained as they might have been 200 years ago. Phelps’ interest in the complex relationship between culture and nature, however, led him to draw on his background in landscape and social-documentary photography and to portray the sites exactly as they appear today. His intent, however, was not to portray the effects of American civilization negatively and depict the land as despoiled. Instead, the artist deftly walked a fine line between celebration and criticism and created seemingly unbiased records of a landscape where history, nature and modern-day civilization coexist.

“These historic sites are bursting with symbolic meaning and continue to be relevant to our cultural identity,” says Barbara McCandless, curator of the exhibition. “Through Phelps’ incredible attention to detail, his use of ironic juxtapositions, and his emotionally evocative treatment of color, he draws the viewer into the scene. The exhibition will allow our visitors to travel the Lewis and Clark Trail vicariously and participate in the experience of awe and discovery.”

Referring to the explorers’ journals and using Global Positioning System technology, Phelps located sites visited by the expedition and photographed the locales during the same seasons and under weather conditions similar to those witnessed by the explorers. In the exhibition, selected passages from the journals will accompany the photographs, drawing parallels between the explorers’ time and the present day.

Like other landscape photographers who have attempted to describe the broad scope of wide-open spaces, Phelps chose the panoramic format. He used a Linhof camera to produce 2 3/8-by-6 3/4 -inch transparencies, each with a width-to-height ratio of three to one. The panorama successfully mimics actually looking at the landscape, where the eye cannot encompass the scene all at once but roams horizontally, gradually taking in all the details. Phelps exploited the panoramic format’s strengths by frequently incorporating disparate details of the landscape within a single frame, playing elements of undisturbed wilderness off of symbolic references to tourism and human management of the land. The images thus take on a narrative component, relating the story of the land’s history and change over time.

About Brent Phelps

Brent Phelps is professor of art and photography at the University of North Texas (UNT) in Denton. He received a Bachelor of Science in Communication from Southern Illinois University in 1971 and a Master of Fine Arts with a concentration in photography from Arizona State University in 1973. From 1973 to 1974, he taught English and photography on the Navajo Indian Reservation and Hopi Indian Reservation. Before joining UNT’s School of Visual Arts in 1980, Phelps taught photography at Sam Houston State University and Northern Arizona University. Phelps received a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1980 to produce Housescapes, a series of portraits of rural Texas farmhouses. Throughout the 1980s and 1990s, the artist developed a love for the Montana landscape while depicting the region for numerous wilderness and sporting publications.

“Brent Phelps: Photographing the Lewis and Clark Trail” is organized by the Amon Carter Museum and is made possible in part by generous gifts from Wells Fargo and an anonymous donor.

The artist gratefully acknowledges the following in their support of the creation of the photographs for this project: Wells Fargo Bank, Denton County, Texas; University of North Texas, Denton, Texas; Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth, Texas; BWC Photo Imaging, Dallas, Texas; Travel Montana, Helena, Montana; Fifth Avenue Foundation, Fort Worth, Texas; Altermann Galleries (Dallas, Texas; Houston, Texas; and Santa Fe, New Mexico).

For additional information on the Lewis and Clark expedition, visit www.lewisandclark200.org, the official Web site of the National Lewis and Clark Bicentennial Council.

The “Star-Telegram” is the official print sponsor of the Amon Carter Museum.

Public Programs

Sunday, October 10, 3 p.m.
Special Lecture
“Sites of Discovery”
Brent Phelps, Professor of Art and Photography, University of North Texas

Sunday, November 7, 3 p.m.
Family Funday

Thursday, November 11, 6 p.m.
Gallery Talk
“Confluence with History: Brent Phelps and the Lewis and Clark Trail”
Barbara McCandless, Curator of Photographic Collections, Amon Carter Museum

Sunday, December 5, 3 p.m.
Lecture
“Picturing Lewis and Clark: Image and Memory in the Great West”
Dr. James P. Ronda, Barnard Professor of Western American History, the University of Tulsa

Exhibition Admission

Museum members FREE
Adults $6
Seniors 62 and over $4
College students with ID card $4
Youths 18 and under FREE
Admission is free on Thursdays, 5 to 8 p.m.
Admission to the permanent collection is free.

Museum Hours

Tuesday, Wednesday, Friday, Saturday: 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.
Thursday: 10 a.m. to 8 p.m.
Sunday: noon to 5 p.m.
Closed Monday and major holidays.

Exhibition Itinerary

National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum, Oklahoma City, Oklahoma
February–May, 2005

Museum of the Rockies, Bozeman, Montana
June–September 2005