East Meets West

Horace Bristol: Fortune, Life, and Time. At
the East/West Gallery. Shows through January 15, 2007.

Reviewed by Brett Leigh Dicks

In wandering the East/West Gallery’s
latest exhibition, a retrospective that explores with passion
Horace Bristol’s contributions to Fortune, Life, and Time
magazines, two things become readily apparent. The first is
Bristol’s stunning perception of light. The second is his equally
impressive discernment of life. Adorning the walls of this stylish
exhibition space is a selection of monochromatic prints that
strikes at the expressive core of photography. In the course of
some 30 images, Bristol turned his discerning vision upon a diverse
selection of subject matter. The resulting legacy of work is as
insightful and persuasive as it is impeccably conveyed.

From early wanderings through his native California, across
explorations of Depression-era labor camps, and to the trials of
war and then postwar Asia, Bristol’s canvas was broad, but his
brush strokes were succinct. Be it an elegantly dressed figure
standing in splendid solitude among the supporting beams of a
bridge, or three priests with umbrellas at the foot of an ornate
shrine, Bristol’s vision smolders in its luminosity. While in the
former image the interplay between the afternoon light and shadow
allows the contextual juxtaposition to radiate, the softness of the
light in the latter piece allows the tenderness of its subject to
float freely. Such was Bristol’s command of his craft.