Recently, photographer Robert Hansen donated eight limited edition prints from his travels in Mexico to the Festival of Arts’ permanent collection.
The gift of “Portfolio 1 – Yucatan Passages” was made out of gratitude, said Hansen, an exhibitor at the Festival of Arts for the past 36 consecutive years.
“This is a unique organization that for over 80 years has nurtured the talents of thousands of creative artists. My career has been greatly blessed by this association. The permanent collection is the prism into the cultural and historic relevance of this magnificent institution. I am honored to be included in this collection.”
Hansen began his photographic journey to the Yucatan and Southern Mexico in 1995. Over the following eight years, he traveled sometime three times a year photographing the Mayan people, ruin sites, missions and haciendas. Over 5,000 large format negatives were made during this period. Of these, 50 were selected for publication in Hansen’s book, “Yucatan Passages,” published in 2004.
Since 2004, the individual photographs from this book have been collected and widely exhibited, but never shown in their entirety.
In 2012, Hansen was encouraged to bring all of his Mexico work together into a comprehensive exhibition, “Made in California.” This National Museum Initiative, sponsored by Contemporary and Modern Print Exhibitions of Laguna Niguel, is a traveling exhibit that features 65 of his photographs from Yucatan Passages, as well as many images never before published or exhibited.
From this traveling exhibition Hansen selected eight vintage 8”x10” images to be included in a limited edition portfolio. These prints, handmade by the artist on Platinum Palladium watercolor paper, represent Hansen’s favorite images from the book.
“Having the distance of 10 years since the work was first published provided me with an objective viewpoint in which to evaluate the work and realize the importance of documenting this period of time in Old Mexico,” said Hansen.
Hansen’s gift will add greater depth to the photographic section of the Festival’s permanent collection, made up of 1,150 pieces that date back to the early 1900s. Moreover, the donation will further define Hansen’s legacy in the Southern California art culture, Pat Sparkuhl, the festival’s collection specialist, said in a statement.
