Holden Luntz Gallery is pleased to be exhibiting photographer Tom Baril’s portfolio, “New York.”
The portfolio of ten distinctive photogravures focuses on iconic and visually complex urban structures from around 1990s New York City. These photographs are not only a testament to Tom Baril’s superior technical aptitude creating exquisitely pure prints, but also to his synthesis of a contemporary vision with a classic foundation. Baril lends a vintage feeling to the images using a 19th century intaglio printing process that registers a wide variety of unique tonal ranges. Visually rich, his work displays a virtuosity in printing that recalls the early New York City photogravures in the photo journal Camera Work by such members of 291 Group as Alfred Stieglitz, Paul Strand, and Edward Steichen.
The Early Years
Born in Connecticut in 1952, Tom Baril graduated from New York’s School of Visual Arts and served as Robert Mapplethorpe‘s exclusive print maker. Baril’s own work was inspired by the lush quality of Mapplethorpes’s pictures, but he distanced himself from Mapplethorpe’s work by focusing on landscapes and urban architecture.
Landscapes & Urban Architecture
Baril produced iconic images of Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, and New York City that are now in numerous prestigious private and public collections including The Philadelphia Museum of Art, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Fogg Art Museum at Harvard University, The Stedelijk Museum of Amsterdam, and The Brooklyn Museum.
Today
Today, Baril carries on his passion for producing exquisite imagery from both behind the camera and in the darkroom using a mastery of 19th century printing techniques capturing complex and unique forms.