Wynn Bullock, Let There By Light, 1954, High Museum of Art, Atlanta.
Wynn Bullock (1902–1975) is highly approachable. He is immensely quotable, a self-effacing searcher with an appealing hint of the metaphysical. His images are eminently readable, filled with unapologetic reverence and undoubted technical prowess. As a purveyor of a certain kind of photographic vision, we can trust him implicitly. So why isn’t he better known?
Born in Chicago and raised in southern California, Bullock traveled to Europe in the 1920s to study music. In Paris, he discovered the Impressionists and Post-Impressionists and the avant-garde photography of Man Ray and László Moholy-Nagy. Back in the United States, he studied photography at the Los Angeles Art Center and became known for his experimental techniques in bas-relief and solarization (a process in which a photograph is reversed in tone so that dark areas appear light and vice-versa). In 1948, Bullock met Edward Weston and was so impressed by Weston’s work that he turned away from experimental photography and began making “straight” photographs.
Bullock’s first solo exhibit in New York led to the selection of two of his prints—Let There Be Light (1954) and Child in Forest(1951)—by Alfred Stieglitz to be a part of “The Family of Man” exhibition. This popular show, which consisted of 503 images and traveled the world for eight years, gave Bullock international exposure and brought him to the attention of MOMA’s Beaumont Newhall and Edward Steichen. Bullock’s long and respected