The Metropolitan Museum of Art has exhibited them. So has The Museum of Modern Art. They’re just two major arts institutions to recognize the playfulness and sense of surprise in vernacular photography — a form of folk art developed quite by accident.
Taken by unknown and amateur photographers, the endearing, sometimes quirky images transcend simple snapshots.
See for yourself Dec. 2 at the fourth annual Vernacular Photography Exhibition and Sale.
More than 80 framed photos and other printed ephemera dating back to the 19th century will be displayed at Fine Art Framing, 2010 E. University Dr., Ste. 11, Tempe.
Highlights include a circa-1880 albumen print of an ancient Egyptian sculpture of the goddess Isis, a 1935 photograph of Sir Malcolm Campbell’s “Bluebird” automobile traveling at a record 304 miles per hour on the Bonneville Salt Flats in Utah, and a 1968 photograph of the moon taken in orbit by astronaut William Anders during the Apollo 8 mission. Each image was collected by photographer Richard Laugharn.
Prices range from $80 to $400, with most works priced at $125 to $185.
The sale is open 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. For information, call (480) 921-8616 or visit FineArtFraming.net.
