Laurence Miller Gallery Exhibition                                                                                   April 3 - May 31, 2008

 David Plowden Vanishing Point


From April 3 – May 31, 2008 Laurence Miller Gallery will feature a small selection of iconic images from David Plowden’s new book Vanishing Point that document an American past:  trains, bridges, farms, industries, and landscapes that have gradually, almost imperceptibly, vanished.

David Plowden was born in Boston, grew up in New York City and Putney, Vermont, and has spent the past fifty years photographing the land, the small towns, the people, and the man-made wonders of a country that has been disappearing before his eyes. He once described the arc of his career as being “one step ahead of the wrecking ball.” Not that he wanted it that way. As a young man he was intrigued by trains, and photographed them for the love of the imagery. Likewise the massive bridges and awesome steamers that span America’s waterways in one fashion or another. He photographed things that fascinated him, things that he loved.  Now fifty years after his first pictures of the American landscape, David Plowden has decided that he no longer wants to photograph ghosts. This show celebrates a medium and a past that is uncluttered, unpretentious, and beautiful, but also a small reminder that growing, building, and changing also involves destroying.

David Plowden’s new book Vanishing Point highlights a career consisting of 50 years of photography.
He has authored more than 20 photography books, and his work is in numerous private, corporate and museum collections, including the Art Institute of Chicago, the Library of Congress, the International Center of Photography, and the Smithsonian Museum of American Art.   


  (click image for detail view)

plowden_AstoriaBridge.jpg (82553 bytes)

Astoria Bridge
Columbia River, Astoria, OR, 1968
9.75 x 10.75" silver print

 

 plowden_CPacificLoco.jpg (36782 bytes)

Canadian Pacific Railway
Steam Locomotives
Glen Engine Terminal, Montreal
Quebec, Canada, 1960
11 x 14" silver print

 

 


plowden_EastLasVegas.jpg (24646 bytes)

East of Las Vegas
New Mexico, 1971
11 x 14" silver print

plowden_CanadianPacific2408.jpg (45498 bytes)

Canadian Pacific Railway # 2408
Vaudreiul, PQ, 1960
9 x 7.5" vintage silver print

 

 

 plowden_YaquinaBayBridge.jpg (35500 bytes)

Yaquina Bay Bridge
Newport, OR, 1968
14 x 11" silver print

 

 

 

 plowden_FiremanVirginia.jpg (29533 bytes)

Fireman
Blue Ridge Railway
Tye River, Virginia
10 x 8" vintage silver print

 

 

plowden_FaulkCo.jpg (79345 bytes)

Faulk Co., South Dakota
Harvest Wheat, 1971
7 1/8 x 8 1/8" vintage silver print

 

 plowden_FerryboatElmira.jpg (197080 bytes)

Ferryboat Elmira
Approaching Hoboken, NJ
on Last Day of Operation, 1967
11 x 14" vintage silver print

 

 


plowden_GreatNorthernGrain.jpg (46236 bytes)

Great Northern Railway
Grain Extra, Eastbound Near Doran
Minnesota, 1956
11 x 14" silver print

plowden_GoldenValleyND.jpg (68705 bytes)


Golden Valley, North Dakota, 1971
14 x 11" silver print

 

 

 plowden_midHudsonBridge.jpg (49837 bytes)

Mid-Hudson Bridge
Poughkeepsie, NY, 1969
14 x 11" vintage silver print

 

 

 

 plowden_HarlemRiverTugs.jpg (33064 bytes)

Harlem River Tugs
New York City, SS America on Right
1959-60
10 x 8" vintage print

 

 

plowden_StLawrenceSteamship.jpg (56298 bytes)

St. Lawrence Steamship Lines, 1964
8 x 8" vintage silver print

 

plowden_LakeMichigan.jpg (88699 bytes)

View of Lake Michigan
from Ludington, Michigan, 1963
11 x 14" silver print

 


 

plowden_MORiverBridge.jpg (61632 bytes)

Missouri River Bridge
Washington, Missouri, 1974
11 x 14" vintage silver print

 
plowden_YoungsHighBridge.jpg (48654 bytes)

Young's High Bridge
Kentucky River
Tyrone, Kentucky, 1968
11 x 14" vintage silver print

plowden_WillCo.jpg (29983 bytes)

Will County, Illinois, 1981
 9 x 12" vintage silver print

 

 

 plowden_WestboundPhoebeSnow.jpg (55634 bytes)

Westbound Phoebe Snow
at Scranton, PA, 1964
11 x 14" silver print
plowden_SalineCounty.jpg (44636 bytes)

Saline County, Missouri, 1974
11 x 14" vintage silver print

 plowden_Stackdetail.jpg (39656 bytes)

Stack Detail, Ann Arbor # 7
Ann Arbor Railroad Car Ferry
Frankfurt, Michigan, 1963
11 x 14" vintage silver print

 

 

 

 plowden_WestboundGreatNorthern.jpg (37885 bytes)

Westbound Great Northern
Railway, Freight Train West
of Havre, Montana, 1968
11 x 14" silver print

 

 

plowden_SteamerKinsman.jpg (57621 bytes)

Steamer Kinsman Independent
Kinsman Lines, Unloading Cement
Clinker, Superior, WI, 1985
11 x 14" silver print

 

plowden_StLawrenceNearBaie.jpg (31130 bytes)

St. Lawrence River near
Baie St. Paul, Quebec, SS Tadonnac
Canada Steamship Lines, 1964
8 x 8.5" vintage silver print

 


 


 

 

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