Once, to be a photographer was synonymous with being an adventurer, an explorer. Though that still can apply to some of today’s image-makers, it’s more mindset than necessity. Not so for America’s earliest field photographers, whose work will be showcased in “American Sublime: Early Photographs of the Western Frontier” from July 22 through Oct. 3 at the Currier Museum of Art in Manchester. Similarly so for “When Portsmouth Welcomed the World, 1905,” featuring photography derived from 100-year-old glass-plate negatives taken by William Mather Lamson, who was stationed at Portsmouth Naval Shipyard from 1900 to 1907.

American Sublime
On view at the Currier will be 25 well-preserved photographs documenting westward expansion. The images were acquired from Jonathan Stein, a New Hampshire resident who collected the prints in the 1970s when the art world was just beginning to appreciate the historic significance and artistic beauty of 19th and early 20th century photographs. They include Carleton Watkins’ 1868 print “The Secret Town Trestle” and Timothy O’Sullivan’s 1874 print “Wheeler Survey Shoshone Falls, Snake River Idaho.” In addition, the exhibition features wilderness photographs by Ansel Adams and Eliot Porter, including two photographs offering contrasting views of Yosemite’s Merced River. The show also includes a mammoth plate print by Carleton Watkins, c. 1870, work by William Henry Jackson, and a rare Parmelian Print by Ansel Adams, 1928. 

“Despite the harsh conditions, these photographers set up makeshift darkrooms in wagons, and carried heavy cameras, chemicals and large glass plates by mule train over extremely rough terrain to remote sites,” notes Kurt Sundstrom, associate curator at the Currier Museum of Art, in publicity materials for the exhibit. “As a result, we have an extraordinary collection of photography that captures the spectacular wilderness that shaped many Americans views of the potential of the West.”

American Sublime will be at the Currier Museum of Art ( 201 Myrtle Way, Manchester 603-669-6144. www.currier.org) through October. Hours are Monday, Wednesday, Friday and Sunday from 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.; Thursday 11 a.m. to 8 p.m.; and Saturday 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Closed on Tuesdays. Admission is $5 for adults, $4 for seniors/students and free for members and children under 18.

When Portsmouth Welcomed the World, 1905

A hundred years ago, William Mather Lamson climbed to the highest perch he could find at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard to take a sweeping series of photographs documenting the view from New Castle to Portsmouth to Badger’s Island and Kittery Foreside. The glass plate negatives, along with others Lamson took while stationed at the Portsmouth Naval Shipyard as Expert Aid for the Bureau of Yards and Docks from 1900 to 1907, formed an invaluable personal documentation project.

Portsmouth-based photographer Peter Randall and Art-Speak, Portsmouth’s Cultural Commission, have reproduced these images for a large-scale outdoor, public-art exhibit opening on Pleasant Street on Aug. 3. Called “When Portsmouth Welcomed the World, 1905” the exhibit documents Portsmouth and its environs when the city opened its doors to foreign dignitaries here to negotiate the Treaty of Portsmouth. Different components of the exhibit will be installed in two locations: the Old North Church on Pleasant Street and the Governor John Langdon House at the corner of Pleasant and Court Streets.

The exhibit will be on display through November, with an opening reception on Thursday, Aug. 4 at 5:30 p.m. at North Church. The unveiling coincides with a presentation by Peter Randall, “A Local Perspective on the Portsmouth Peace Treaty” at The Athenaeum in Market Square.
For more information on the project, visit www.art-speak.org or call 603-610-7222.