Master of urban landscapes shows depth of photographic meditation

BANGOR – The University of Maine Museum of Art, 40 Harlow St., will open two new exhibits tomorrow: “George Tice: Urban Landscapes” and “Mary Hart: Recent Paintings.” The exhibits will run until Sept. 20.

George Tice began photographing urban and suburban New Jersey in 1967, creating a body of work that developed into one of the most influential photographic documentations of place in late 20th-century America.

Tice’s photographs of New Jersey are specific in their local references, while commenting more broadly on the postindustrial landscape. The work creates a complex portrait of the urban and suburban landscapes of his home state, forming a meditation upon American life through views of diners, luncheonettes, movie theaters, shoe-repair shops, vacant lots, beaches, housing developments, train lines, water towers, gas stations and telephone booths.

Often devoid of human figures, the landscapes are dense with human associations and implied human presence. In the photographs, Tice uses a classic documentary style, the intense detail of large-format camera photography and a magisterial photographic printing technique. His sensitivity to people and places that are often overlooked illuminates the human experience with reverence, interest, irony and humor.

The exhibition spans Tice’s photographic career, continuing the series that he first presented in the now-classic 1975 book “Urban Landscapes.” A new edition of “Urban Landscapes,” co-published by the International Center of Photography and W.W. Norton, will accompany the exhibition. The new book will include classic images from the original 1975 publication as well as new photographs – the most recent taken in 1999.

Tice’s continued commitment to the “Urban Landscapes” series marks a vital creative endeavor. This body of work lies at the heart of his career in photography. By returning to the source of his inspiration, the artist has reinvigorated his vision of place, and expanded the original project.

George Tice teaches photography and is a widely respected printer of the medium. His photographs are included in the collections of the Museum of Modern Art and the Metropolitan Museum of Art and others.

He is the author of twelve books, including “George Tice: Selected Photographs, 1953-1999;” “Fields of Peace: A Pennsylvania German Album;” and “Paterson.” He is the recipient of fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts.

A native of Connecticut and currently a Portland resident, Mary Hart creates diminutive paintings requiring the viewer to come close to reflect on the intimacy of the subject, seducing the eye while engaging the mind.

Her recent work could aptly be called natural philosophy, realistic articulations of individual objects from nature that are inevitably abstract. Mary Hart reaffirms that painting is a stimulus to the mind as well as to the eye.

Hart received a master’s degree from Bard College and a bachelor’s degree from Dartmouth College. Her work is included in the permanent collections of Simmons College, Bates College and Xerox Corporation.

Museum of Art hours are 9 a.m.-6 p.m. Tuesday-Saturday and 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Sundays. Admission is $3 per person. UMaine students with an ID and museum members are admitted free. For information, call 561-3350.