Exhibit: Boulders, Beards & Bonnets
Rugged men posing on rocks, butchers standing proudly before huge carcasses – Richard J Arnold’s pictures of the people of San Luis Obispo, California, radiate the bygone American west. But rather than creating authentic portraits, he was an early master of retouching who ironed out his subjects’ imperfections. Arnold also photographed California’s Asian, Latino and black communities, a rare move for the time. Here are some of his most stunning glass plates, which have never been seen before by the public.
