American Dreams- 20th Century Photography

On the weekend I went to see the American Dreams- 20th Century Photography exhibition in Bendigo.
The exhibition featured 80 prints from the George Eastman House collection,
There were prints by Ansel Adams, Diane Arbus, Cindy Sherman and a stunning image by Richard Avedon of Natasha Kinski.
What is remarkable about it is the size and perfection of the image. It is over a meter long and incredibly detailed.

I have learned from seeing the exhibition at Monash Gallery and this exhibition at Bendigo gallery how lovely platinum photographs are.
Seeing them - the real prints and not reproductions, made me understand the subtlety of the medium - beautiful ranges of soft delicate tones - quite different from black and white of silver gelatin prints.
The platinum tones range from warm black, to reddish brown, to expanded mid-tone grays that are unobtainable in silver prints.
The image here is by Anton Bruehl - not part of the Eastman exhibition, but a beautiful example of the range of chocolaty tones available using the platinum process.