REFLECTION [back]

GRATWICK'S ART BOOK (1979)

RUINS AS AN ART FORM

Bill Gratwick lived in a mysterious and elaborated ruin. His propriety design was his private phantasy. He enjoyed telling outrageous stories. Outrageous was a word he liked to use. One of his stories was about Marie Antoinette, and a Dwarf Village he found in his 300 acres estate. He wide opened his privacy, and happily volunteered to participated in all kinds of photographs, staged or not. He was charming and full of energy. It was a privilege to meet him.

Invisible Web

In 1888 Fernando Pessoa was born.

In 1904 William Gratwick was born.

In 1905 Frederick Sommer was born.

In 1919 Portuguese poet Fernando Pessoa writes “POUSA UM MOMENTO”.

In 1924, Frederick Sommer a brasilian architect meets in Paris William Gratwick, Sr, an American businessman and amateur horticulturist, who encourages him to visit the United States.

In 1935 Fernando Pessoa passes away.

In 1979 as a graduate student I was introduced by Charles Arnold Jr to Bill Gratwick and his marvelous “ruins as an art” life style, 35 miles south west of Rochester, NY. Later that same year I produced color xerox prints of photos made in his house and propriety, combined with the 1919 poem by Fernando Pessoa, the art book: “Gratwick - Só pelos Olhos de Fernando Pessoa”.

In 1981, 78 years old American artist William Gratwick publishes “The Truth, Tall Tales, and Blatant Lies”. Visual Studies Workshop Press, Rochester, NY, with photo-copier imagery. (More on Bill Gratwick to come at Resources.)

In 1983 I had the unexpected visit of American photographer Frederick Sommer in Porto, and coincidently our first conversation topic was William Gratwick. I showed him the Gratwick’s Art book. He understood all of it because could read and speak fluently the Portuguese language. (More on this meeting to come at Resources.)

In 1984, 80 years old photographer Frederick Sommer publishes “Words / Images”, Center for Creative Photography, University of Arizona.

In 1988, only 9 years after I met him, William Gratwick passes away.

In 1999 Frederick Sommer passes away.

In 2009, 90 years after it was written, there is not yet an english translation of this extraordinary poem.

Fernando Pessoa's untranslated poem

"POUSA UM MOMENTO"

Pousa um momento,
Um só momento em mim,
Não só o olhar, também o pensamento.
Que a vida tenha fim
Nesse momento!

No olhar a alma também
Olhando-me, e eu a ver
Tudo quanto de ti teu olhar tem.
A ver até esquecer
Que tu és tu também.

Só tua alma sem tu
Só o teu pensamento
E eu onde, alma sem eu. Tudo o que sou
Ficou com o momento
E o momento parou.

Fernando Pessoa, 1919

Xerography

In 1979 one had to make appointments many weeks before, to be able to use at RIT Library Basement the revolutionary 8500 Color Xerox Printer. That color printer, was an extremely temperamental and a very expensive piece of equipment. It was the “First” true color copier. Every individual machine had it´s specific personality.

Before going to Rochester I was familiar with B&W copiers. I was Interested on the creative possibilities of these machines. Every brand (Hubix, Xerox, 3M, …) had its exclusive visual syntax. Since 1976 I had been exploring the efect of multiple copy generations in photos and also its possible applications in Textile Design. My work had just been selected for the ElectroWorks traveling exhibition, of Internacional Museum of Photography at George Eastman House.

And now I could do it with color toners. They had a tactile quality due to the special quality of its almost tridimensional pigments. The possibility of using heavy weight papers and color and texture widened the scope of artistic possibilities. The copier glass bed was not just an automatic “filter”, but a whole new creative process. The first Mac II with color capacities arrived in 1987. And we were still a decade before the promise of the Digital.

Xerography was the word of the day and the most promising of all Photographic Alternative Processes of that period.

Júlio de Matos
May, 26th 2009