In a way, SFMOMA’s exhibition New Topographics: Photographs of a Man-Altered Landscape thumbs its nose at the likes of Ansel Adams and Minor White. Gone are the steep cliffsides and winding rivers, so too are the romanticism and the awe in the face of nature’s grandeur. In its place are run-down buildings, barren trailer parks and decrepit gas stations: man’s specific imprint on the natural world. The photographs—stark and deceptively poignant—are treatises on humans’ capabilities, but there’s not a single person in the frames. New Topographics reprises a 1975 show, and more than 100 works from the original exhibit will be on display, along with 30 additional prints and books by relevant artists. July 17–Oct. 3.
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