Winter in Yellowstone, 1999.

Lucille Tortora

October 1-31, 2021
Opening Reception: October 1, 6-8 pm.

Buster Levi Gallery is pleased to announce Winter inYellowstone, an exhibition of Gelatin Silver prints by Lucille Tortora.The work in this show is focused on images taken during a trip to Yellowstone National Park that Tortora made in 1999. Though taken in 1999, Tortora did not print the images until the last year.

In 1980, as Tortora began her adventure in photography, she came across this quote from Julia Margaret Cameron: “ I longed to arrest all beauty that came before me, and at length the longing has been satisfied.” This quote closely expresses her feelings, explaining the very reason that photography so appealed to her. Tortora “sees” the beauty in all the views around her.  She has stated; “To be able to capture this beauty that I thought I could see for myself and to give it to others, is the joy I find in this very expressive art form. Words have always been difficult, seeing has always been easy, but until I found photography, images flew through my mind, never caught.  The longing has been satisfied.  The images remain,  hopefully others will see the way I see, enjoy my images as I do and feel a moment of contentment. Beauty, a very fragile ingredient of  life, is quick to flee.  To capture one moment is a treasure.  I see this capturing as a never-ending process that fills my need to communicate with others.” 

The images in Winter in Yellowstone, 1999 are breathtaking. Tortora has an eye for choosing motifs that that engage the viewer and move them into her world and thought process. The subject and how Tortora presents it, partner to create the beauty that she sees in her subjects. ‘Mammoth Hot Springs, 1999’ (above) is a triptych that includes branches of winter trees that are cropped from the trunk and a distant view of the hot springs partially obscured by a mist. Both are fragments and their combination is one those moments that Tortora strives to capture which is enhanced by her flawless range of tonality. In addition, Tortora applies a compositional rigor that often challenges the viewers expectation for the images as her gaze shifts viewing angles and the distance the subject is viewed from. When combined with her use of multiple images and inventive arrangements Tortora’s work often borders on the abstract, while remaining firmly rooted in reality. Tortora quotes Martha Graham, “But art is eternal: for it reveals the inner landscape which is the soul of man.”

Lucille Tortora holds a BA in Design and Art History from Hofstra University, 1974.  From Long Island University, C.W. Post, she earned an MA in Photography, 1983. She has exhibited in the United States, Europe and Japan, showing her black and white photographs in museums, corporations and private collections.

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