VISUAL ARTS
BY ALEX V. CIPOLLE
MUHAMMAD ALI, 1984, BY BRIAN LANKER
OH THE HUMANITY
The first-ever Brian Lanker photography
retrospective at the Schnitzer
will knock your heart out
W
alking through the shadows and spotlights
of the silent Barker Gallery where a Brian
Lanker show is being hung, artist Lynda
Lanker remembers her late husband. This is
the first time she’s seen a retrospective of
his work. His massive photographs dwarf her as she
passes by.
Gazing at a photo, Lynda recalls a question she once
posed to a LIFE photo editor and friend.
“Well, what is it that sets Brian apart from the other
photographers that shoot for you?” she asked.
Brian can do anything, the editor responded. “He’s so
versatile. I can send him on any kind of a shoot and he can
bring something back.”
Looking up and down the gallery where his work hangs
is proof enough. A sea of faces look back, from Rosa Parks
and David Bowie to Muhammad Ali and an Oregon horse
logger in 1975. Lanker captured all subjects like kings and
queens, whether it be the taut curves of Sports Illustrated
swimsuit model Elle Macpherson or the broken-down
figure of a high school football player after a game.
“He was just fascinated with life and humanity,”
Lynda says. “In a way, I almost think of him as an
amateur anthropologist.”
On Jan. 22, the Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art opens
From the Heart: The Photographs of Brian Lanker, the first
exhibit of his work since the world-renowned photojournalist,
and former Register-Guard director of photography,
succumbed to pancreatic cancer at age 63 in 2011.
From the Heart is also the first-ever retrospective of
Lanker’s portfolio, which is mostly shot on film, an
amazing feat considering the serendipitous and innovative
scenes he captured.
“The generosity of spirit that you see in the images is
a reflection of Brian’s character,” says Jill Hartz, JSMA
director and curator of the show. In Hartz’s essay in the
book From the Heart, which was the catalyst for the
exhibit, she writes that it’s unusual for photojournalism to
hang in a museum, adding that Lanker had the rare touch
that could blur the line between art and journalism.
The book and exhibit chronicle his teeth-cutting days
in the ’70s at the Topeka Capital-Journal, considered one
of the best “boot camps” for photojournalists, to Lanker’s
more recent series on dance across the United States in all
its forms, shooting everything from ballroom to
“grinding” in the clubs.
It was at the Topeka-Capital Journal where Lanker
found his chief mentor and longtime friend, the journal’s
director of photography Rich Clarkson, as well as future
wife Lynda, who he met while photographing her for
DAVID BOWIE, 1992, BY BRIAN LANKER
“Moment of Life,” a black-and-white series on childbirth
that won Lanker a Pulitzer in 1973 at the tender age of 24.
“The key in Topeka was Rich Clarkson,” Lynda
recalls. “He was very intense and a really tough boss.”
Clarkson will be in Eugene for a panel discussion at the
museum Jan. 23.
The collection also examines his passion for athletics
— look for Prefontaine, Bruce (now Caitlyn) Jenner and
Olympic gold medalists — and the I Dream a World:
Portraits of Black Women who Changed America, a
groundbreaking 1989 book and exhibit that traveled the
world. Lanker, who worked with Maya Angelou on the
project, developed an intimacy with the women pictured,
seen clearly in the eyes of Angelou, author Alice Walker,
soprano Leontyne Price, activist dancer Ruby Dee, Clara
McBride Hale, the humanitarian who created a home for
children who were born addicted to drugs, and many
more as they hang on the walls of the Schnitzer.
Lynda says her husband felt humanity very intensely.
“He had an amazing rapport with his subjects,” she
recalls. “He photographed people so beautifully and I
think he really loved people and they could feel it.”
Lynda has recently gifted a collection of 75 vintage
silver-gelatin prints from the I Dream A World project to
the JSMA. “I think we’re the only museum in the world
that will have that,” curator Hartz says.
Many people were involved in bringing the exhibit to
life, Lynda notes, but most of all she wants to recognize
Lynne Lamb, Lanker’s assistant of 20-plus years, who
coordinated the majority of the show.
“Her world changed drastically,” Lanker says of Lamb
after her husband’s death. “This has been a great
opportunity for both of us to see Brian’s legacy.” ■
The public opening reception for From the Heart: The Photographs of
Brian Lanker runs 6 to 8 pm Friday, Jan. 22, at the UO’s Jordan Schnitzer
Museum of Art; FREE. The museum hosts two conversations Satuday, Jan.
23: “From Photograph to Art Book” (11 am) and “From Topeka to
Eugene: Telling the Story” (2 pm); FREE. For more info, visit jsma.
uoregon.edu/BrianLanker.
eugeneweekly.com • January 21, 2016
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