Let There Be Color

Everything was once black and white. O In the age ofInstagram it's hard to believe that even through the 1960sthe world of fine art photography was colorless. "Black andwhite are the colors of photography, "declared Robert Frank."Color photography is vulgar, "chimed in Walker Evans. Theprevailing wisdom of the masters held firm. O Joel Sternfeld '65 didn't know any better. Freshly graduated, he started takingpictures at the suggestion of a girlfriend. By the late 1960she was shooting exclusively in 35 mm color, almost alwaysworking alone. O Then the world—and its palette—shifted.The 1970s witnessed an acceptance of color photography asfine art, startingwhen the Modern Museum of Art in NewYork City hosted its first significant color show with imagesby another color pioneer, William Eggleston. Sternfeld, whohad met Eggleston previously, was ahead of the curve in thathe had already amassed a body of work in color. O TwoGuggenheim fellowships and many miles later—he crisscrossedthe country in his Volkswagen bus, taking pictures along theway—came the publication o/American Prospects in 1987,the first salvo in a career that has spawned an inimitable bodyof fascinating work, leading up to his most recent release, in2011, o/First Pictures, a collection of Stemfeld's earliestunpublished photos. O Dartmouth's Hood Museum of Artowns two prints by Sternfeld, including his most famous work, McLean, Virginia. It's a tantalizing almost inexplicableshot, captured in 1978. Viewers who do not know its backstoryexpress wonder as they linger over the image and try to figureout what it depicts. Viewing the image with knowledge of thebackstory is an entirely different experience, (ifyou're lookingfor the explanation, google it.) "It is a masterpiece in terms ofits composition and palette," says Hood director Michael Taylor. "But this photograph has troubled and perplexed almosteveryone who has seen it."

Like many students, Sternfeld came to Dartmouth in part due toits northern location and what he calls "a deep, abiding interestin the natural." His senior year he completed the Ledyard CanoeClub's annual Trip to the Sea. Today he's concerned about theenvironment and climate change. When proponents of savingthe High Line in New York City contacted Sternfeld to ask himto photograph the unused railway line, he obliged by spendingmore than a year roaming the tracks with his camera. Whenword came that Mayor Rudolph Gulianiwas contemplating adismantling of the railway in favor of development, a book ofSternfeld's imagery was rushed into print. "Thatgave credibilityto the project, something a box of prints couldn't achieve," hesays. The tide turned. Joined by A-list celebrities who took up thecause, the Friends of the High Line saved the elevated railwayand turned it into a lush park, with sections opening in 2009and 2011. A third section is expected to open eventually. "It'sbecome a global symbol. In a world of no good stories, here isa good story," says Sternfeld. "It was a project I was meant todo." O The photographer, who lives in New York City andteaches at Sarah Lawrence College, is comingto Hanover as aMontgomery Fellow this summer. He'll be teaching and delvinginto the outdoors he loves so much before he participates in theCarnegie International in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, this fall.

McLean, Virginia, December 1978, from American Prospects

Washington, D.C., August 1974, from First Pictures

Nags Head, North Carolina (#1), June-August 1975, from First Pictures

After a Flash Flood, Rancho Mirage, California,July 1979, from American Prospects

The Space Shuttle Columbia Lands at Kelly Lackland AirForce Base, San Antonio, Texas,March 1979, from American Prospects

Summer Interns Having Lunch, Wall Street,New York, New York, August 1987, from Stranger Passing

A Homeless Man with His Bedding,New York, New York, July 1994, from Stranger Passing

Looking East on 30th Street on a Morning in May, 2000, from Walking the High Line

Looking West on 30th Street on a September Evening, 2000, from Walking the High Line