From the collection of Marcia Weber: a rare collection of five silver gelatin aerial photos taken during British and American reconnaissance missions during World War II. The collection was curated by California photographer and art collector Ryan Hendon in 2011.

Mid-Century Landscapes, Pictured.

This collection represents a small group of original silver gelatin photographs of the European landscape taken from 1943 to 1945. Photographing the landscape was already common practice and established itself along with painting as a preferred methodology for recording our natural surroundings. However, due to the accuracy of the photograph and advancements in flight, the aerial perspective would revolutionize our idea of the landscape.

Representational of the abstract geometric paintings of the early twentieth century, these photographs are evidence that artists would be able to simultaneously detach themselves from the conventional idea of the landscape while accurately recording the new. The perspective of these photographs is the most essential characteristic to consider, as it aided in the transformation of the plotted rural landscape into ethereal topographical mosaics. I consider these photographs to be accurate abstractions that are responsible for propelling our sensible understanding of the landscape beyond the human scale.

By the end of the twentieth century these photographs had become the foundation for new technological based works in aerial landscape art. With the use of the Internet and satellite positioning, photographing the earth's surface anywhere in the world, at any time, could be achieved. Our intention to render the landscape hasn't changed over the last one hundred years but the way we translate it is a perpetual evolution. Mid-Century Landscapes, Pictured. marks a pivotal reconsideration in documenting the spaces we exist in and the tangible record that our idea of the landscape isn't exclusive to a singular perspective.