Collaboration

CollaborationBeginning in 1937, the three painters, Cadmus, French, and French, vacationed together in Provincetown and Fire Island. With a shared camera, they photographed themselves and their friends against a background of vast, empty beaches. Driftwood, umbrellas, white sheets and old fishing nets were arranged with models, to form oddly surreal compositions. Many such arrangements were later adapted for use in the artists' paintings, several examples of which

and a DVD of the seventy-seven-minute film itself

hugged-too-closely pets

capturing a tension between the gaze and the presence of each individual

and eventually the photographer must close his eyes to see that truth

Thomas Walther

and not the drawings for which he is known

years after Vietnam

march 1999

sometimes they seem more animal than human

Ordinary moments captured in mid-gesture are infused with an unexpected ritualism

often against great odds

Edited and with text by James Allen