Written by Quentin Peabody Saturday, 21 May 2011 23:03

The Price Tower Arts Center Shows Richard Quinney's Twin Tower Photographs

Bartlesville, OK. – Price Tower Arts Center presents "Once Upon An Island: Twin Towers Rising', which can be seen until September 11th. The exhibition features photographs by Richard Quinney of lower Manhattan during the time of the construction of the World Trade Center in New York City. Sociologist Richard Quinney spent the spring of 1969 photographing the people, places, and visual images while walking the streets of Manhattan as part of a photography class at the International Center for Photography.  For the next 30 years, he moved the slides from closet to closet as he relocated, ultimately to his home near Madison, Wisconsin. Today, his photographs serve as a reminder of not only the period of time they represent, but of the architectural legacy of the World Trade Center complex that was destroyed a decade ago.

“Construction of the World Trade Center was taking place in the larger contemporary context. Lyndon Johnson had been elected president in 1964 to deliver the programs of the Great Society and to solve or at least improve upon the nations problems of poverty, inequality, education and urban decay. Yet, the escalation of U.S. military intervention in southeast Asia caused cutbacks to domestic programs,” said Richard Quinney. “My self-proclaimed project was to document what could be seen as one world comes down and another goes up.” The exhibition will showcase over 130 prints produced form original slides taken by Quinney. Overall, he donated 161 color slides from his project to the Wisconsin Historical Society, Madison, in 2002 as part of their effort to collect writings, images, and personal effects from Wisconsin residents. Price Tower Arts Center will also host a companion exhibition on the second level of its gallery showcasing selected images of the construction of the Price Tower by Joe Price during the years 1953 to 1956.

“We are very enthusiastic about Once Upon an Island and believe it will be of interest to those with a passion for architecture, history and photography,” said Scott W. Perkins, curator of collections and exhibitions for Price Tower Arts Center. “Quinney’s images display the fascination with the building project, one initially not fully endorsed by the general public, as well as the workers, vendors, and onlookers and places the towers in context with the everyday objects and life around it.” Richard Quinney, in addition to his work as a photographer, is a professor emeritus of sociology at Northern Illinois University. He is also a former Fulbright lecturer and the author of numerous works. He received the Edwin H. Sutherland Award for is work on criminological theory.

Price Tower Arts Center offers a one-of-a-kind experience, presenting outstanding collections and exhibitions of art, architecture and design, high design hotel accommodations and exclusive shopping within a structure considered to be one of the great buildings of the 20th century. Frank Lloyd Wright's Price Tower was his pioneering experiment in the multi-use skyscraper: a tall, slim, richly detailed structure whose purpose was to combine business offices, retail and apartments. Today, Price Tower Arts Center continues to follow Wright's original design intent by offering a variety of opportunities for guests to learn from and interact with one of the master's greatest achievements. In 2006, architecture and design enthusiasts from across the country celebrated the 50th anniversary of the completion of Wright's only skyscraper and in 2007 the Price Tower was named a National Historic Landmark by the U.S. Secretary of the Interior, Dirk Kempthorne. Price Tower Arts Center's rapidly growing architecture and design collections number almost 3,000 objects mainly concentrated in two areas: works by Frank Lloyd Wright and his firm and material by architect Bruce Goff. Concerning the former, significant pieces range from the Prairie Style to his late modernism include furniture, textiles, and documents. The latter group of Goff material-second only to those of the Art Institute of Chicago - includes architectural fragments, over 200 renderings (line drawings, original drawings and presentation drawings), paintings, and personal effects. Important supporting collections of archival material include original correspondence from Wright, contemporary film and photography documenting the construction of Price Tower and related Price Company material. There are also examples by Ludwig Mies van der Rohe, Werner Panton, and Zaha Hadid, among others. The Arts Center's exhibition program has also allowed it to begin developing a dynamic collection of contemporary art which aligns with the museum's mission to explore the intersection of art, architecture, and design, such as the monumental sculpture Sixty-Six (2004) by Robert Indiana and numerous pieces by Dennis Oppenheim. Visit the art center's website at ... http://pricetower.org

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