"Visions Underground: Carlsbad Caverns through the Artist's Eye." Lois
Manno. Rio Grande Books, no place; 2009. ISBN 978-1-890689-95-7. 8 by
10 inches, 177 pages, softbound. $19.99.
The majority of the art in this book is in fact photography,
although I suppose some old hand-tinted postcard photos can be
considered partly painted. I don't think any of the actual paintings
of scenes in Carlsbad Cavern (called Carlsbad Caverns throughout) will
ever be of any interest except in connection with the cave, but many
of the photographs are nice. Some of the best were taken either
outdoors or in other caves in the national park, especially
Lechuguilla. Paintings and color photographs are of course printed in
color. A tremendous plus is the first publication of a collection of
black-and-white photographs taken by Ansel Adams, who is said to have
found working in the cave very difficult. Given Adams's reputation for
outdoor photography, I wasn't surprised to find that my favorite among
them here is a surface shot of a park building, but one photo of the
Big Room is very nice. The author has arranged things pretty much
chronologically, from the 1920s to today's cave photographers, and
there is extensive explanatory text.
I can't speak to the fidelity of the reproduction of the
paintings, but most of the photographs are well reproduced, though
there isn't a really solid black anywhere in the book. The major
disappointment is the reproduction across a two-page spread of the
famous 2400-flashbulb 1952 color photograph of the Big Room by Tex
Helm. When I was paging through the book, I immediately recognized
that it must have been made by scanning an old, very faded print. When
I read the book, I was astonished to see the claim that the colors had
been restored using Photoshop. No they weren't.--Bill Mixon
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