A Perfect Trip With a Perfect Friend
Denver to Phoenix - A Classic Road Trip
When I was a young kid I spent a few summers in Colorado. I stayed part of the time at my Aunt Waundia's ranch outside of Cañon City. She had horses, cows, chickens, and a few goats. She sold Avon cosmetics and Hidden Valley dressing mix (you could only get it that way in those days).
She lived in the little log house her late husband built. Without a dependable well, potable water was hauled in to fill a cistern by Uncle John. Whoa be to anyone who took a "Hollywood" shower or flushed the indoor toilet. If it was daylight you better hit the outhouse mister....
Grandma and Grandpa lived next door in a single wide trailer. Grandpa chewed tobacco constantly and was never far from an old coffee can spittoon that totally grossed me out. But under his gruff persona was a real sweetie. One day he spent a whole afternoon showing me the ropes in making gooey, sweet, popcorn balls with colors that were not found in nature.
With no internet or cable every evening we'd relocate outside around a campfire where I'd admire a sky I really never knew existed. And most nights magnificent electrical storms exploded across the Sangre de Cristo Mountains to the west.
Daily life was highly ritualized with shopping trips and a run to the tiny post office in Wetmore (where the cranky postal clerk had rows of jars filled with penny candy).
So Colorado will always be magic to me.
Fast forward to this spring when my friend Carolyn adeptly pointed out that we had yet to plan our annual long weekend for 2022. Somehow Colorado just seemed to check off a bunch of boxes. We could get a few days out of the heat of Austin and Phoenix respectively. We could enjoy some of the West's most majestic scenery and I would be able to drift off mentally to relive some fond childhood memories. And, on the practical side, I have projects under construction on both sides of the Rockies I could check in on.
Our plan was simple. Carolyn would drive from Austin to Denver and visit an old friend. I'd fly in midweek and we'd have a day to sightsee in Denver before aiming very her cute and very orange Subaru toward Glenwood Springs where I booked an AirBNB within earshot of the Roaring Fork.
The first day we thoroughly enjoyed Denver's striking Art Museum (DAM). The museum is composed of cojoined buildings spanning various city blocks. The original North Building, opened in 1971, is the only built structure in America designed by Italian architect Gio Ponti. It is a 24 sided, seven story, 210,000 square foot castle whose "thin but jealous walls" defend the precious artistic treasures it contains. On sunny days it sparkles thanks to the 1,000,000 Dow Corning glass tiles that clad it.
The controversial 146,000 square foot Hamilton Wing, designed by Studio Daniel Libeskind, opened in 2006. It is a 167 feet tall titanium clad crystal jutting sharply in every direction.
Entering Exhibit Spaces
I found the museum and a its special exhibits showcasing women photographers to be mesmerizing.
The first special exhibit showcased the photos of Georgia O' Keefe. They illustrate her favorite places, her beloved chow dogs, flora, and the environs of her New Mexico home and studio. But, it was Todd Webb's photos of O'Keefe herself that I found most engaging. While her artwork presents bright vivid hues, Webb's photos are subdued in muted hues of sepia.
Georgia O'Keefe at Canyon de Chelly
(1957 Todd Webb)
O'Keefe with Her Chow
White Flower
(Georgia O'Keefe 1929)
The other special exhibit presented a cross section of women photographers. I was really impressed with the work of Esther Bubley. Her work conveys with remarkable sensitivity the dignity of her subjects in everyday circumstances.
Esther Bubley
(1921-1998)
Greyhound Bus Terminal, New York City
(Part of Esther Bubley's bus and transit series 1942-1947)
Another of the photographers included was Bubley's contemporary Margaret Bourke-White. White was justifiably famous for her daring photos (including the iconic photo of her in one of the Chrysler Building's Stainless Steel gargoyles). Bourke-White was the first female photographer for Life magazine and created famous photos chronicling two world wars and the Great Depression.
Unknown to me was her extensive pre and post war work in Russia and the Soviet Union.
Moscow Streetcar Worker
(Margaret Bourke-White, 1925)
Imogen Cunningham (1883-1976) remains one of my favorite American photographers. While attending a 1975 commencement ceremony for a friend at Mill's College in Oakland I witnessed Ms. Cunningham, and Maya Angelou, accept honorary doctorate degrees. Ms. Angelou went on to fire up her gravel on velvet voice to deliver a commencement speech that stole my breath.
Imogen Cunningham 1883-1976
Imogen Cunningham was born in Portland Oregon and became famous for botanical photography, nudes, and industrial landscapes of exceptional clarity. In 1920 Cunningham and her husband Roi Partridge came to live on the Mill's campus after Roi accepted a teaching position there.
Cunningham later photographed for Vanity Fair until it ceased publication in 1933. She eventually accepted an offer from Ansel Adams to join Dorothea Lange and Margaret Bourke-White to establish the founding faculty of the California School of Fine Arts in 1945.
Magnolia Blossom
(Imogen Cunningham - Gelatin Silver Print 1925)
Another of my favorite photographers was Dorothea Lange. Lange was born in Hoboken NJ and contracted polio at age seven. The polio resulted in a permanent limp in her right leg that "formed me, guided me, instructed me, helped me, and humiliated me". Her father abandoned her family at a young age forcing her mother to move the family from suburban New Jersey to a poor section of New York City. With her mother working extended hours Lange found time to explore New York. This likely helped to develop her keen observation skills.
In 1918 Lange relocated to San Francisco. In 1920 she wed famed western artist Maynard Dixon and operated a successful portrait studio. They had 2 children. She and Dixon were divorced in 1935. She went on to marry UC Berkeley economics Professor Paul Schuster Taylor to whom she remained married for the rest of her life.
Accompanied by her assistant Rondal Partridge (son of Imogen Cunningham) she found her purpose photographing the depression migration from the dust bowl to California. The honest imagery she captured led to employment by the Federal Government's Resettlement Administration and later the Farm Security Administration.
Her blunt photographs of the internment of Japanese Americans were deemed too sensitive to be seen during the war and were impounded by the US government for the duration of the war.
Dorothea Lange 1895-1965
Perhaps the images that I found most striking were those of Olivier Silva by the Dutch photographer Rineke Dijkstra. Dijkstra's work captures her subjects in a raw state. Her series of Silva transports the viewer on his journey from innocence to toughness and eventual dissallusionment.
Olivier Silva, Marseille 2000
In this series Dijkstra first photographed the 17 year old Silva as he
entered the Foreign Legion. He wears his civilian clothes with eyes that bore directly into the viewer.
Olivier Silva, Camp Rafalli, Corsica 2001
In his second photo, during Foreign Legion military training in Corsica, his eyes have narrowed and his expression is laser serious. Innocence is fading. Facial lines have formed.
Olivier Silva, Djibouti 2003
In this third photo Silva's expression has changed completely. His transformation is complete. There is pure toughness and no innocence left.
In a 2012 exhibit of these photos at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art Silva himself is quoted:
"In the photographs that you can see that I grew up and evolved … In the
beginning you see me full of expectation. Towards the end I’m more
mature. The last photograph shows that I’ve been through some sort of
trial; going through that heavy training had changed my face … [but it]
shows more than just physical development. As time went by my opinion of
the French Legion altered … as I realised what the Foreign Legion truly
is, my dream gradually dissolved. In the end I did my five years and
left."
The next image was one of my favorites. It is by John Singer Sargent. It is one of three study portraits of Rosina Ferrara painted by Singer Sargent on the isle of Capri in 1878 (when he was 22). Sargent kept one of the portraits his entire life.
Head of Capri Girl
(John Singer Sargent 1897)
I found curation of relatively modern western artists at the DAM to be exceptional. The new realism of the oil on illustration board painting of bareback bronc rider Don Walker by James Bama (1926-2022) conveys that western sensibility perfectly.
I'll return to this museum any chance I get.
The next morning we pointed the orange wonder into the heart of the front range where we enjoyed two days / nights in Glenwood Springs. We strolled the Hotel Colorado, window shopped downtown Glenwood Springs, and spent a few blissed out hours adrift in the world's biggest mineral pool.
Mineral Pools - Glenwood Springs
The Glenwood Springs "Spa of the Rockies" pool was designed in 1888 to harness 3.5 million gallons of the naturally hot 122° mineral water that rises every day. The pool is kept at 90-93° and is open year round.
After Glenwood we drove to Aspen and then cruised the "Top of the
Rockies" highway with a small detour to perhaps my favorite little town
in Colorado (Salida) for lunch. Then we began our journey west paralleling to
the Gunnison, to overnight in Montrose.
Spectacular Scenery Along the Gunnison
From Montrose we enjoyed our final days in the mountains near Telluride
before our decent out of the mountains to visit the Four Corners and spend an evening in Navajo
country.
Near the 4 Corners
When we arrived at the 4 corners we took the opportunity to stand in four states at the same time.
Standing in Utah, Arizona, New Mexico and Colorado Simultaneoulsy
After an evening enjoying the hospitality of the Navajo Nation's Navajoland Hotel in Tuba City we spent our final day returning to Phoenix via a very wet Flagstaff.
Such a great trip.
Carolyn, where are we going next year?
Roadboy's Travels © 2022
