A modern master

Viewpoint Photographic Art Center shows the work of Wynn Bullock, a classic master of photography

This article was published on 04.09.15

“Navigation Without Numbers” by Wynn Bullock, silver gelatin print, 1957.

Where: Viewpoint Photographic Art Center, 2015 J Street, Suite 101; (916) 441-2341; www.viewpointgallery.org.

Second Saturday reception: April 11, 5 p.m. to 9 p.m. Through May 2.

Hours: Tuesday through Thursday, noon to 6 p.m.; Friday through Saturday, noon to 5 p.m.

Wynn Bullock is considered to be a 20th-century master of photography along with his peers Edward Weston and Ansel Adams. It's no mystery why: Even though he died in the 1970s, his work still looks modern and relevant today, not to mention it's exquisitely exposed in the camera and on the print—but it deserves mentioning. Bullock pushed the medium of photography by experimenting with alternative processing and new techniques. He reins in light and the narratives around his well-balanced compositions so delicately, such as in his iconic “Navigation Without Numbers,” where an infant napping on a black bed seemingly floats away from his mother in this dark sea, while she is in on the other side of the bed, head down, drowning, knowing that she will have to give her baby up soon.

It should be a treat to have a gallery full of his work on display this month at Viewpoint.