New Work by Photographer Abelardo Morell Launches Concord Museum's Thoreau Bicentennial Celebration

Concord Museum is launching the 2017 celebration of the bicentennial of the birth of Henry David Thoreau, one of America's most thought-provoking writers and thinkers, with a deeply personal exhibition by photographer Abelardo Morell. Walden: Four Views | Abelardo Morell will be on exhibit in the Concord Museum's Wallace Kane Gallery from February 10 through August 20, 2017.

Guided and inspired by Henry David Thoreau's journals and his seminal work Walden, Abelardo Morell has made panoramic photographic works that suggest a new perspective from which to look at Walden Pond. Whether by using his "tent-camera" to bring an image of Walden Pond onto the ground or creating a cliché verre picture of a body of water using ink on glass, Morell envisions the well-known landmark as a place where artistic invention opens up our consideration of the territory.

Now a Massachusetts resident, Morell was born in Havana, Cuba, immigrated to the United States in 1962, graduated from Bowdoin College, and received his MFA from Yale University. His work has been collected and shown in many galleries, institutions, and museums, including the Museum of Modern Art, Whitney Museum of American Art, Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York, Chicago Art Institute, San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, Houston Museum of Art, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, Victoria & Albert Museum, and over seventy other museums in the United States and abroad. He is Professor Emeritus at Massachusetts College of Art and

Walden: Four Views | Abelardo Morell (cont.) 2

Design in Boston. Morell is perhaps most famous for his work in which he converts rooms into camera obscura in order to photograph the strange and delightful meeting of the outside world with the room's interior. Abe Morell acknowledges a long-standing affinity to Thoreau that is being given expression in this exhibition, which is in part an encounter with the concept of transcendentalism".

David Wood, Curator at the Concord Museum explained "Abe Morell is one of those rare artists, who has made the effort to explore Thoreau's work on Thoreau's own terms. The result is a series of works that transform Walden the place into Walden the idea, a feat notoriously difficult to accomplish."

Margaret Burke, Executive Director of the Concord Museum stated, "We are extremely honored to have Abelardo Morell's seminal work Walden: Four Views debut at the Concord Museum for the kick-off of Thoreau's Bicentennial celebration. Morell's inventive photography magically transports viewers to a new and ever more beautiful Walden."

The Concord Museum holds the world's largest and most significant collection of artifacts related to Henry David Thoreau, including the simple green desk on which he wrote many of the words that continue to resonate so profoundly throughout the United States and beyond. The collection was the basis for two important projects which have made major contributions to Thoreau studies: An Observant Eye: The Thoreau Collection at the Concord Museum (2006), a catalogue by Museum Curator David Wood presenting Thoreau as a material culture historian; and Early Spring: Henry Thoreau and Climate Change (2013), an exhibition exploring Thoreau as a scientist and naturalist.

Walden: Four Views | Abelardo Morell, will be accompanied by a broad range of public programming, including workshops and gallery talks.

For all programs please reserve on-line or by phone 978-369-9763 ext. 216

A lecture by Abelardo Morell, Monday, March 27, 7:00-8:00 p.m.

In this illustrated lecture on Walden: Four Views, Abelardo Morell speaks about how he came to make his most recent series of photographs for this special exhibition. Learn how he employed his combination of photography and painting or drawing). Free; by reservation only. This event will take place at the Fenn School in Concord. General registration opens March 1.

Walden: Four Views | Abelardo Morell (cont.) 3

Gallery Talk by Abelardo Morell, Thursday, June 15, 6:00-8:00 p.m.

At this special gallery talk and reception Morell explores his large-scale panoramic works of Walden Pond. Members $40; Non-members $55.General registration opens May 1.

A Workshop with Abelardo Morell, Saturday, June 17, 2:00-3:30 p.m. For fifteen years, Morell has traveled the world, creating fantastic photographs of interior spaces flooded with vibrant exterior scenes. In this workshop, Morell demonstrates how he uses camera obscura to make his photographs. Members $10/$5 child; Non-members $15/$7 child; includes Museum admission.

Walden: Four Views is made possible by Presenting Sponsor: SKINNER Auctioneers; Corporate Sponsors: Carleton-Willard Village and Carleton-Willard At Home and Middlesex Savings Bank. Special support: Color Services, LLC.

MORE ABOUT CONCORD MUSEUM'S CELEBRATION OF THOREAU BICENTENNIAL

The Anatomy of a Desk: Writing with Thoreau and Emerson is another exhibition opening in tandem with Walden: Four Views at the Concord Museum on February 10, 2017. In this special exhibition visitors are invited to sit at reproductions of Thoreau and Emerson's desks and participate in the creative process. The first is a Windsor writing-arm chair at which Ralph Waldo Emerson penned his first book, Nature; the second is the humble green desk where Henry David Thoreau drafted his most influential work, Walden. Both of these treasured desks have been reproduced by Dan Faia, Head of the Cabinet and Furniture Making at Boston's North Bennet Street School. The public is invited to share their own creative thoughts through writing and drawing at these desks. Photography and social media are encouraged.

Thoreau Bicentennial at the Concord Museum

The Concord Museum is conducting a year-long celebration of Henry David Thoreau's birth. One of the world's most original writers and thinkers (1817-1862), Thoreau is best remembered for living in a 10 x15 house near Walden Pond, where he wrote Walden. While the Bicentennial of Thoreau's birth will be recognized world-wide and in his hometown Concord, it is of special significance to the Concord Museum, which holds the largest and most significant collection of artifacts related to Henry Thoreau. A variety of Thoreau-related programs, exhibits, and events are planned at the Concord Museum www.concordmuseum.org.Thoreau events locally, nationally, and internationally can be found at http://thoreaubicentennial.org.

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