Claus Mroczynski (1941′006) was fascinated with the indigenous peoples of North America, especially the ancient inhabitants of the American Southwest. A New Hope resident for the last years of his life, this German-born photographer spent more than two decades visiting the rugged deserts, caves, mesas and mountains of the area, producing an evocative portrait of sacred places past and present.
“Claus Mroczynski: Sacred Places of the Southwest,” the final exhibition at the James A. Michener Art Museum’s New Hope satellite in Union Square, includes 49 black and white photographs of Native American ruins and Southwest landscapes. Organized by the museum, the exhibition is on view in the Della Penna Gallery through February 1.
“Claus was a true adventurer and his photographs of ancient ruins reveal not only the mystery and beauty of each site, but also express his passion for the places and people of the Southwest,” explains Kristy Krivitsky, the museum’s associate curator of contemporary art. “According to Pauline Domanski, the artist’s wife, Claus always wanted to show his work in New Hope, so it’s a particular honor for us to host an exhibition of this fine, local photographer,” Krivitsky added.
Born in Essen, Germany, Mroczynski received his initial art training at the Fachhochschule for Design in Dortmund. Throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, he used his sister’s home in New York as a base for myriad travels in the United States, eventually studying with renowned photographers Ansel Adams, Wynne Bullock and Paul Caponigro at the Ansel Adams Workshops in Yosemite National Park, California.
Positive receptions of his work from photographer Imogen Cunningham in San Francisco and photographer Eliot Porter in Santa Fe, N.M., further encouraged the artist. Mroczynski settled in New York in 1974 and quickly began exhibiting his work and pursuing commercial photography clients.
The “Sacred Places” project began in the mid-1980s. One of the toughest challenges was gaining access to the sites, many of which are kept secret by Native Americans fearful of vandalism and theft. However, Mroczynski’s sensitivity and respect for these places earned him access to many hidden sites that few have visited. Working in the field with a lightweight, medium-format camera, he frequently traveled to remote sacred grounds in such varied locations as the Grand Gulch Primitive Area in Utah, Canyon De Chelly National Monument in Arizona, Mesa Verde National Park in Colorado, Poncho House in the Colorado Plateau and Monarch Cave in Utah, among many others.
An accompanying hardcover publication Sacred Places of the Southwest consists of 164 pages with 157 black and white images.
For additional information, www.michenermuseum.org or 215-340-9800.
