Outside In and

Upside Down:

The Art of Abelardo Morell

By: Allissa Smith

Flashlight and Salt: Photogram on 8” x 10” Film, 2006

A Look Ahead

Biography 3-4

Teaching Career 5

Camera Obscura 6-8

Tent Camera 9-11

Other Works 12-14

Bibliography 15Light Entering Our House, 2004

Biography

"Broken Glasses" at Morell exhibit, Florida Museum of Photographic Arts, 2008

Born in Havana, Cuba

in 1948. Family Fled

Castro’s Regime to

New York City at age 15

Received Bachelor of

Arts at Bowdon College

And Masters in Fine arts at

Yale Univ. in 1977

Now lives with

his family in

Brookline Massachusetts

“ A Lot of my work tries to disorient you… When you feel alone there is actually a lot more of the world coming into your space than you think” Abelardo Morell

Contemporary master of the camera obscura

( the ancient method of projecting a image on a wall)

92 Public exhibitions

Published many books:

-Abelardo Morell & the camera eye

-Camera in a room

-Illustrations for Alice’s adventures in

wonderland

Documentary in 2007:

Shadow of the house

You Tube link to Trailer of Shadow of the House Cut out: Paper-Self portrait, 2012

Biography

Teaching career

He wanted to show his

students the

fundamentals of

photography and

turned his classroom

into a camera obscura

This was one of the

first photos using this

technique

Light Bulb, 1991

Camera obscura

Room darkened & only a

small hole lets in the light

Through this hole, an image

of the world beyond enters

upside down and settles on

the opposite wall

You are inside a spacious,

primitive camera. A camera

obscura invented by

Aristotle in the 16th century

Brookline View in Brady's Room, 1992

“art often renews itself by returning to its roots.”

First images required 6-8 hour exposure

Now using digital with only 1-2 minute exposure

Camera obscura

St. Louis View, Looking East, in Building Under Construction, 1999

“Morell has moved photography forward by going back to its beginnings.”

Camera obscura

View of Florence Looking Northwest Inside Bedroom, 2009

Traveled around the world with his family to capture new landscapes

Able to use a prism to invert image

With digital camera able to shoot in color creating sharper Images

YouTube link to the process of Camera Obscura

Tent camera

You Tube Link to Tent Camera: Golden Gate Bridge 75th anniversary

Golden Gate Bridge, 2012

Shared his Tent Camera technology at the 75th anniversary Celebration of the golden gate bridge

Tent camera

Domed tent with

periscope and prism

to redirect the

landscape onto the

nearby ground

Tent-Camera Image on Ground: View of Rome from the Spanish Academy, 2010

Tent camera

Merges landscapes

to textural ground to

produce painting-

like photos

He is not painting

with a camera, or

imitate the effects of

painting. merely

having a

conversation with

them.

Tent-Camera Image On Ground: View of Cerro Castellan and Tuff Canyon. Big Bend National Park, Texas, 2010

Other works:Alice and

wonderland

Created

photographs from

character cutouts to

create off kilter

worlds and bizarre

scale

It Was Much Pleasanter At Home , 1998

A Mad Tea Party, 1998

As if by magic, the

ordinary becomes

ironic, seductive,

& lovely to look atFalling Coins II, 2006

Other works: money

Coin Impressions, 2003

Folded $20 Bill Resembling The World Trade Center, 2002

Other works:

childhood

a. Morell spent

large amount

of time at home

capturing the

point of view

of the child

Other works:

Studio still life,

photograms, Cliché

verre, & large

format black &

White

Brady and I in Bathtub, 1986

Laura and Brady in the Shadow of Our House, 1994

Toy Blocks , 1987

Bibliography Morell, A., & Sante, L. (2004). Camera obscura. (first ed.). New York: Bulfinch.

Morell, A. (2005). Abelardo Morell. London New York: Phaidon

Costello, B. (2008). Outside In and Upside Down: the Art of Abelardo

Morell. 96(3), 15.

Abelardo Morell. (2007). Retrieved July 3, 2012, from

http://www.abelardomorell.net

Whiting, S. (2012, July 6). Abelardo Morell's "Vertigo":Surreal Golden Gate. SFGate. Retrieved July 7, 2012, from http://www.sfgate.com/art/article/Abelardo-Morell-s-Vertigo-surreal-Golden-Gate-3567143.php

Abelardo Morell- Biography. (n.d.). ArtFacts.net. Retrieved July 2, 2012, from http://www.artfacts.net/en/artist/abelardo-morell-19007/profile.html#top