Opening on September 9, 2023: Glimpses of the Past: Bessie Dean Parr’s Photographs of Turn of the Century, Collierville, Tennessee.
On Saturday, September 9, from 5-8PM, Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art will host the opening of an exhibition of early 20th century photography that travels to Victoria from Houston’s Art Car Museum.
The exhibit, Glimpses of the Past: Bessie Dean Parr’s Photographs of Turn of the Century, Collierville, Tennessee, was curated by Noah Edmundson in Houston for the 2022 FotoFest biennial. It now travels to Victoria with an installation specifically designed for Victoria’s Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art, including selections from the local antique car collection of Willie Sanders.
This exhibit contains over 200 images that were stored and forgotten in open wooden ammunition boxes in a barn for almost 100 years in Collierville, once a small town and now a suburb of Memphis. The photographer, Bessie Dean Parr was revolutionary in her use of photography, opening her studio to access by everyday citizens from the area regardless of age, gender, class or race. The result is a remarkable collection of work that presents the small-town South from the early 1900‘s in a way that can’t be seen via a modern lens.
Photography in the early 20th century had progressed so that glass-plate negatives were widely available for use by both amateurs and professional photographers, and rapid advancements in emulsions and equipment prompted the Eastman company to market directly to women. In the town square, above her husband’s Collierville dental office, Parr opened a photography studio and turned it into a thriving business.
Many of the glass-plate negatives that Parr used suffered extreme water damage and in many cases were completely gone, leaving just the blank glass-plates. Thanks to the careful cleaning and documenting by amateur photographer, Rick Broer, his wife, Jill, and eventually their daughter, Katherine Broer-Parr, this collection of photographs has been saved, giving us a glimpse of the past that resonates far beyond Tennessee.
The opening reception, Saturday, September 9th, will feature live entertainment and light refreshments from 5-8PM.
Five Points Museum of Contemporary Art is located at 1201 North Moody in Victoria, TX and is open to the public 12-5pm Wednesday through Sunday. Admission at the museum is always free.
For event information please contact: Maggie Kuykendall, Media Contact at 361-894-2153.