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. ARTKABINETT art collector members will appreciate this wonderful photgraphic homage, located in the northeast Oklahoma prairie.
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 (pictured left). “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.
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.
Tomorrow, more about Bartllesville, Oklahoma's "Price Tower", which is considered Frank Lloyd Wright's only skyscraper...
