In 1931, the year the Columbus Museum of Art first opened its doors, Columbus-native William Parker Little was part of the first photography exhibition titled “First All-Ohio Salon of Pictorial Photographers.”Coming full circle, an exhibition titled “William Parker Little, Columbus Pictorialist, 1850-1937,” is once again on view in the Museum’s Ross Photography Center until June 6, 1999.Traveling auctions in Newark looking for nothing more than an antique table for his son-in-law, Paul Hooge happened upon a rare and extensive collection. He discovered the long forgotten photographic works of Little.”Some days you just get lucky,” Hooge said of his find.Luck was definitely on his side that day as he saved over 600 vintage prints, 2,500 negatives, 40 autochromes, and a large number of glass slides from being tossed into the trash. Little’s treasure trove of artistry nearly went unrecognized.Little was a turn of the century photographer. He was part of the pictorialism movement (1890-1917) which was intended to recognize photography as an art form. Pictorialists produced photographs that resembled paintings by blurring the outlines and eliminating detail. Little mainly focused his work on portraits and landscapes of the Columbus area. The exhibition is comprised of over 100 of Little’s photographs. Some include such Columbus sites as the Ohio Stadium in the 1920s, Broad Street under construction, and Hayden Falls.”This exhibit goes far beyond what the public saw in 1931. These photographs give people an expanded idea of pictorialism, and what William Little was really like,” said Katherine Evans, the curator of photography at the Columbus Museum of Art. “The collection is a valuable piece of photographic history and I’m glad the works were recovered.””William Parker Little, Columbus Pictorialist, 1850-1937,” is on display in the Columbus Museum of Art’s Ross Photography Center until June 6. For more information call 221-4848.
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