FORUM MASTER NIGHT: TOR MARTIN LEKNES
THE AESTHETICS OF AMATEUR PHOTOGRAPY Â₌“ A LOOK AT RALPH WILSON'S PHOTOGRAPHIC WORKS

When

Opening
19:00, 16. November 2010

On Master Night, Tor Martin Leknes will talk about Ralph L. Wilson (1872 – 1951) from Fana outside of Bergen. Wilson came back home after his years abroad for education and work, with his first camera in the late 19th century. Thus joining an increasing trend; the camera was getting cheaper and more available than before, which in turn created the milieu of amateur photographers in Norway that Wilson himself was a part of.

The Picture Collection of the University of Bergen holds a large collection of Wilson’s negatives. In addition to ca. 2500 negatives, one can also find some hundred photographs printed by Wilson himself. The collection shows Wilson as an experimental photographer, yet some isolated photos are tied to dominating tendencies in amateur photography of the early 19-hundreds. The images are also placed in creative montages that show how he worked with the presentation of his photos.

Through the study of the collection from Wilson Leknes also reaches a better understanding of the first praxis of amateur photography in Norway. Wilson was member of a  camera club in Bergen in the inter-war years, and his photographs are key to acquire knowledge of the camera clubs that developed through the country in the 20th century. The clubs offered a milieu where experimental photographers with artistic pretensions discussed the aesthetics of photography and inspired each other’s works. 

The presentation is given in Norwegian.

----------

Tor Martin Leknes holds a BA in visual culture, and has studied social anthropology and sociology at the University of Essex. Currently he is an MA-student of art history at the University of Bergen, and works as a receptionist and assistant at Bergen Art Museum.

Master Night is a series of lectures where both MA students and recently graduated art historians present their MA dissertations to a public. With Master Night Hordaland Art Centre wishes to bridge the gap between the academic and practicing art scenes in Bergen, and create a place for interaction between students and professionals. 

Eva Rem Hansen is responsible for this program and Master Night is made possible due to good help from the study committee of Art History at the University of Bergen.