And so the future of pictorial photography in the Far West looks exceedingly bright. The salon workers of the past five or ten years are with few exceptions as keen as ever for their art, and a very talented and numerous lot of new workers are coming to the front.
The center, in fact the stronghold, of Western pictorial photography is undoubtedly California. All forms of art seem to flourish mightily in this genial clime of wondrous, colorful beauty. A land of smiling sunshine, of lofty snow-capped peaks, of weird trees, of golden poppy-covered slopes, of sparkling seas—it is small wonder that the young art of the camera should thrive so vigorously there.
There are several active foci of pictorial interest in the State. The most active and most promising of these centers is the Camera Pictorialists of Los Angeles. [pg 14] This club, as we may call it, has a membership of fourteen under the directorship of Louis Fleckenstein. Every member is an active worker of ability and promise. This group has made an imposing representation in nearly every photographic salon of recent years.
They are sponsors for the International Photographic Salon held annually in the municipal art gallery of Los Angeles. This exhibition, with two years of success behind it, must be rated as the premier event of its kind in the West, and, in the quality of its offerings, second to none on the continent.
While this is the only prominent group in California organized for strictly pictorial work, there are a great many independent workers widely scattered about the State. San Francisco and the bay region can claim a score or more whose achievements have been notable.
Oregon has many enthusiastic workers and a strong club in Portland. Washington likewise has many camera artists of talent. Both these States have an untold wealth of pictorial material and many keen pictorialists. All they lack is an active leader or two to bring them to the rank they should hold in the photographic world.
In Salt Lake City we find an active, enthusiastic and very promising group of workers under the able leadership of Thomas O. Sheckell. Through the medium of an extensive series of one-man exhibitions they have brought before the art-loving public of their city the best work of a large number of our leading pictorialists.
One of the most interesting and auspicious developments of the year has been the recent formation of the Pacific Coast Chapter of the Pictorial Photographers of America.
For very logical reasons the chief activities of the parent body of the Pictorial Photographers of America have been centered in the City of New York. An earnest desire to enjoy like activities right at home while still sharing the privileges of direct affiliation with our fellows of the Pictorial Photographers of America led to the formation of the Pacific Coast Chapter. The idea is still young, but the success of the chapter is definitely assured by the strong character of the membership already secured. It is the purpose of the chapter to uphold strongly the purposes and ideals of its parent body and to work continuously for the advancement of pictorial photography in the West. A number of interesting exhibitions are scheduled for the near future, the most important of these being the “All Western” exhibition, which is planned for the fall and winter of 1919-20. The aim is to include the best pictorial photography of the West. It will be shown first in New York by the Pictorial Photographers of America and then routed through some of the more representative clubs of the East and Middle West.