National Gallery of Art adds two works by Springfield photographer to permanent collection

The world-class art museum, The National Gallery of Art, has acquired two photographs from Springfield photographer Julie Blackmon for its permanent collection.

The National Gallery of Art, in Washington D.C., announced March 10 that it would be acquiring Blackmon's photographs, "Flatboat" and "Paddleboard." These are the second and third photographs the museum has acquired from Blackmon for its permanent collection. The first, "Gum," was acquired in 2017.

"Flatboat" and "Paddleboard" were created by Blackmon in 2022 on the Finley River, near a cabin she owns in Ozark. Blackmon said she pulled inspiration from George Caleb Bingham's American frontier paintings.

"Paddleboard" was inspired by Bingham's "Fur Traders Descending the Missouri." Completed in 1845, Bingham's painting depicts a tranquil scene of two men along the Missouri River.

Blackmon's adaptation replaces the men with a pregnant woman, Blackmon's nine-months pregnant sister and a boy, her nephew. The cargo depicted in Bingham's painting is replaced with a stack of coolers and in the background, a child wearing a shark fin looms.

"It looks idyllic and she heroic, but actually, and I did this intentionally, it's an impossible situation for her being pregnant and paddling that down the river and balancing," Blackmon told the News-Leader. "It was my take on the impossibilities of what we put on women."

For "Flatboat," Blackmon pulled inspiration from Bingham's "The Jolly Flatboatmen," completed in 1846. The painting, also a part of the National Gallery of Art's permanent collection, showcases a group of young men and children atop a floating raft.

It was "Flatboat" that gained the National Gallery of Art's initial attention. Blackmon said her gallerist at Haw Contemporary in Kansas City reached out to the national museum, inquiring if it would be interested in Blackmon's photograph that was directly inspired by one of their permanent collection paintings.

"Given the photograph's (connection) to the National Gallery of Art painting, it make sense to acquire it," National Gallery of Art Curator of Photographs Diane Waggoner told the News-Leader. "'Paddleboard' is an appropriate companion piece because it also takes another George Caleb Bingham painting ... as its inspiration, though that painting is in the collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art."

In "Flatboat," a young Black girl, Blackmon's neighbor, replaces the central white male figure in Bingham's painting, surrounded by other children enjoying a summer's day on the river.

"You go into it not knowing what's going to happen, so there's no way to plan on it working out, but once I saw her assume that position, I was like, 'Okay, everything's good from here on out' ... I high-fived her," Blackmon said about creating the photo.

Waggoner said because photographs are light sensitive, the museum never places them for permanent view. A display date has yet to be set for "Flatboat" and "Paddleboard," but Waggoner said anyone interested in seeing the photos in person may do so by making an appointment to view them in the museum's photography study room.

Capturing the Ozarks' 'rare beauty'

Blackmon is a Springfield native who explores domestic life and family dynamics. Her photographs frequently include her family, including her three children, nieces and nephews, friends and neighbors.

"I feel incredibly lucky to be able to draw from life around me here in southwest Missouri — one, in my neighborhood in Rountree but also just in the vicinity," Blackmon said. "It's pretty rare beauty, the Ozarks. People are like, 'What are you going to do after this?' and I'm like, I'll never run out of ideas. The material to draw from here is really endless, the everyday lives, the landscape, all of it. I can't imagine working anywhere else."

Blackmon's photographs are on display in many permanent collections across the country, including the Kemper Museum of Contemporary Art and Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art in Kansas City, Missouri.

Blackmon's work has been featured in national publications like the New York Times several times over the years. Most recently, Blackmon and her daughter Stella Blackmon were featured in New York Times Magazine for the inspiration they pull from the Midwest landscape.

The National Gallery of Art opened in March 1941, dedicated by former President Franklin D. Roosevelt. Going back several years, it was former Secretary of the Treasury Andrew Mellon who initiated the museum's creation, according to the museum's website.

In December 1936, Mellon wrote to Roosevelt, offering to donate his prestigious art collection and to build the National Gallery of Art. The following year, Congress passed legislation to establish the art museum. Construction began in 1940 and opened a year later.

In the beginning, the museum featured 126 paintings and 26 sculptures donated by Mellon. Today, it features over 150,000 sculptures, prints, drawings, photographs and paintings in its permanent collection.

This article originally appeared on Springfield News-Leader: Julie Blackmon's work to be on display at National Gallery of Art