Two Artists, Two Compelling Visions

    Two shows hanging in next-door spaces in Salisbury are compelling and rewarding. The first is another of Merideth McGregor’s exhibitions of fine female photographers from the 1940s, when magazine, newspaper and corporate assignments kept them busy and solvent. The second displays the unusual botanical paintings of an under-appreciated artist of singular vision.

   The photographs in Joie de Livres Gallery are by Ida Wyman, now in her 80s. Beginning in 1944, she quickly lost concerns about the mechanics of taking shots and became absorbed by everyday people in their ordinary activities and by architectural details of her Bronx neighborhood and, eventually, the rest of New York City. She shot the people or the situation, the light or object that interested her without worrying about film and shutter lenses. (I suspect by then such concerns had become automatic.)

   A member of the Photo League, which used photography to advance the social welfare of working people, Wyman somehow imbued her photographs with an honest joy and overwhelming sense of humanity and humaneness. Her people are caught in their ordinariness, and sometimes eccentricity.

   “Underneath the News Standâ€� shows three giggling little girls hiding under a knocked-together table for newspaper display. “Frederick Jensen with Clocksâ€� shows a satisfied, suited shop owner surrounded by his diverse wares. You can almost hear the ticking. “The Transetteâ€� reminds us of days when cities like San Antonio sent out women to make change for parking meters as well as to write tickets. (Oh, Manhattan, where 10 minutes now costs 45 cents!)

   There are only 23 images in the Wyman show, but each is a gem.

   At the gallery at Kinderhook Group’s office, Terri Sisson has curated a small showing of Bessie Boris’s brilliantly colored botanical still lifes. What sets her work apart is the equal concern for the flowers or plants and the vessels which contain them. How they look both in and out of water, what glass does to the stems, how different they look through transparent planes.

   Boris, who died in 1993, worked her canvases hard before creating images. Her surfaces are built up so much that the added dimension is plainly visible.

    On these prepared surfaces she laid down vibrant color and interesting shapes. The paintings fairly burst with energy, while being quite painterly.

Although she distorted shapes, her work is always representational.

   Boris was a fixture of the New York City art scene in the 1940s, and in 1947 she was the subject of one of Alice Neel’s famous portraits. She lived most of her life in the city and in Lee, MA.

    

 â€œIda Wyman:  Photographs Across Americaâ€� is at Joie de Livres Gallery at Salisbury Wines, 19 Main St., through Sept. 16. Hours are Mon through Sat., 10 a.m. to 7 p.m.

     “Bessie Boris:  Botanicalsâ€� is at the Gallery at Kinderhook Group, also at 19 Main St., Salisbury.  Hours vary, so call 860-435-0700.

 

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