PAUL CAPONIGRO
American
In the essence of his work, Paul Caponigro belongs
to a long-standing strand of American photogra-
phy practiced by figures such as nineteenth-century
landscape master Carleton E. Watkins, Edward
Weston, Laura Gilpin, and William Clift (1944-),
who have been drawn, almost mystically, to the
power of the natural landscape. Caponigro’s sub-
jects are the landscape and still life in all of their
manifestations—from close-ups of a sunflower or
an apple to a Connecticut rock wall, or light simply
reflected in the water, or the megalithic stone mo-
numents of Northern Europe such as Stonehenge,
Avebury, and Carnac. Caponigro has also fa-
mously captured sublime and enigmatic running
white deer, the gardens and temples of Japan, the
Arch of Reefert Church, Glendalough, Ireland, the
consecrated places of the American Indian in the
West, and the great buttes of Utah and New Mex-
ico. At the root of Caponigro’s photography is his
concern for man’s history and awareness of what
forces lie around him. In his best work, he reveals
nature’s delicate balance through simplified forms
and formations that have been skillfully observed
and meticulously printed. The power of observa-
tion and a deft control of his craft have been key
elements to Caponigro’s contribution to the mod-
ern definition of the language of photography.
Paul Caponigro’s sensitivity to place and his
understanding of the quality of light and how it
affects place have enabled him to produce images
that are simultaneously remarkably quiet and
powerfully resonant. This distinctive strength arises
from his masterful darkroom technique in which he
is willing to allow each negative to dictate the
specific process by which it will be developed and
on which papers it will be printed.
Caponigro typically tones his prints so that they
contain a subtle but rich gradation of tone so that
he might capture ‘‘the elusive image of nature’s
subtle realms.’’
Paul Caponigro also writes passionately about
photography and his work:
...of all my photographs the ones that have the most
meaning for me are those I was moved to make from a
certain vantage point, at a certain moment and no other,
and for which I did not draw on my abilities to fabricatea picture, composition-wise or otherwise. You might say
that I was taken in. Who or what takes one to a vantage
point or moves one at a certain moment is a mystery to
me. I have always felt that after such experiences that
there was more than myself involved. It is not chance. It
happens often.
(Paul Caponigro, a monograph 1971)
Early and enduring influences on Caponigro
were the lives, vision, and work of Ansel Adams,
Edward Weston, Minor White, and Northwest
Coast painter Morris Graves. Ansel Adams’ shar-
ply focused and highly skilled craftsmanship set a
standard for Caponigro to emulate; Minor White’s
psychological and spiritual approach to photogra-
phy informed his life-long concern with the mysti-
cal and spiritual dimensions of landscape and still
life photography, a viewpoint that was very influ-
ential on others of Caponigro’s generation as well.
Early on in his career, Caponigro visited an exhibi-
tion by Morris Graves in San Francisco. Graves’
paintings of symbolic animals and ritual objects
presented a mythical dimension connected to nat-
ure yet parallel and apart from it. These paintings
influenced by Eastern brush painting and Native
American art were a catalyst for Caponigro. Capo-
nigro creates pictures that are immediate; however,
he is constantly engaged in the effort to reveal
something other—something that is not immedi-
ately visible, tangible, or legible. He has conducted
a survey of the material world, conducted, over a
lifetime, with such metaphysical fidelity that it
transcends the need for explanation.
DIANAEdkinsBiography
Born in Boston, Massachusetts, December 7, 1932. Studied
piano, College of Music, Boston University, 1950–1951.
Drafted into the army and served as a photographer
from 1953–1955; stationed in San Francisco, where he
became acquainted with the West Coast photographers
Ansel Adams and Minor White. Apprenticed in a com-
mercial photographic concern, 1952. Studied with Ben-
jamin Chin and Alfred W. Richter in San Francisco,
1956, and with Minor White at Rochester Institute of
Technology, Rochester, New York in 1957–1958. First
solo exhibition, George Eastman House in Rochester,
New York in 1958. Assisted Minor White with summer
photographic workshops, 1959. Instructor and lecturer
in photography at colleges and other centers in theCAPONIGRO, PAUL