Man in Steam N.Y, Arthur Tress, 1966
For Moderna Museet's Christmas window in 2002, we, love and devotion chose to display a work from the Moderna Museet collection. We usually enhance what is already there in the context, institution, place, or tone down aspects that might obscure something important. We browsed through Moderna MuseetŐs works database, and selected a photo that expresses a mood we believe most of us can identify with around Christmas. Man in Steam, N.Y. is one of 21 works by Tress owned by Moderna Museet. Former museum director David Elliott bought the works in 2000 directly from the artist, without middlemen.
A visit to MM can be an alternative both for those who celebrate Christmas and those who do not. Free admission and free storage compartments encourage visitors to examine what the museum has to offer. Welcome!
We wish to thank Arthur Tress for his permission to use his work in this way. Thank you, also, Leif Wigh, curator of photography at MM, whom we requested to contribute his thoughts on Arthur Tress and his context.
Ingrid Eriksson, Carina Gunnars, Karin Johnson, Anna Kindgren
Stockholm, November 2002-11-18
PS. The original photograph by Tress will also be shown in the exhibition hall until 12 January, 2003.
Arthur Tress
In the late 1960s, a new generation of photographers emerged on the international scene. In particular, a group of young Americans could now be seen in forums such as European photo magazines.
One of these was Arthur Tress (b 1940). French photographic experts ranged him with a group of photographers called the New York School. This label has long since lost its meaning, and the photographers themselves were averse to the concept from the start, since they considered themselves to represent completely different approaches.
And yet, today, we can see certain similarities between the photographers who belonged to this group which, in addition to Arthur Tress, included Ralph Gibson, Duane Michals, Les Krims and others. They sought inspiration for their pictures from innovators such as the behaviourist Rollo May and the media philosopher Marshall McLuhan. They were inspired also by LIFE Magazine and its pictorial features in the 1950s, when this generation was still in its formative years. C. G. Jung's writings on dream interpretation also aroused their attention.
Arthur Tress was born in Brooklyn. He took an interest in painting, sculpture and graphics, in addition to design, and studied both art history and cinematography before deciding to travel round the world. After studying painting and art history under Heinrich Bluecher at Bard College, he led an itinerant life for several years, travelling round California and Mexico. In 1962, he went to Africa, continued around Asia and arrived in Japan, where he stayed until 1966, studying Kabuki theatre. This eventually impacted on his imagery. In 1966, he came to Stockholm, where he worked for a couple of years as a freelance photographer and did a few assignments for the National Museum of Ethnography.
Back in New York, he grew famous for his portraits of people in strange settings that developed into a form of theatre of memory. The photos exploited childhood dreams, and he also included his own dream images, his dreamed sexuality and fantasies. Tress also studied homosexuality for several years, and this was expressed in his pictures.
His photographer colleague Duane Michals wrote in his introduction to Tress' portfolio "The Dream Collection" that one should look out if Tress approached with his camera. Don't be taken in by his innocent smile - for when he takes a picture of you with your lover or a friend you become an actor in his picture. Tress will distress you!
Tress's images have a depth and a surrealistic imagery. They depict man's darker sides. When creating his images he also focuses on controlling mystic forces and energies outside his own self. As a photographer, he considers himself to have a profound perception, brutally forced on him as a result of seeing reality split into 250ths of a second. He says the best pictures among his earlier works were created in a trance-like state in which he attained a deep, non-verbal communication with the person he portrayed. And as a skilled and well-trained observer he is practically able to foresee the movements - and to make them happen through mental power. In the late 1970s, Moderna Museet was intending to include Tress' photos in a presentation of his generation of photographers. Unfortunately, he was prevented from participating, and it took 25 years before his photos could be incorporated in the Museum's photographic collection.
Leif Wigh
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