Review: Wynn Bullock: Revelations (Atlanta High Museum of Art, until 2015.01.08)

I had never heard of Wynn Bullock before checking the scheduled exhibits for Atlanta's High Museum of Art.  A bit of online research revealed him as one of the masters of mid-century West Coast movement, along with Adams and Weston.  It was in fact his meeting with the latter that convinced him to give up an acting career to pursue photography.  But where Weston and Adams are well-known, Bullock is largely forgotten, even though one of his two images in The Family of Man was chosen by exhibit visitors as their favourite of the collection's 500+ photos.

Scott suggests Bullock may have been ignored because he was difficult to classify, working in several genres, from early experiments inspired by Man Ray, to straight, to commercial, to late period color abstracts.   It may also be that he was ignored because he was interested primarily in exploration of experience, especially ideas of space and time, and less in particular kinds of subjects.

The last major exhibit of his work was nearly 40 years ago, presumably near the end his life, or shortly after his death in 1975.  So why an exhibit now?  And why in Atlanta?