Louis K. Meisel Gallery is pleased to announce Panoramic Views, featuring panoramic city and landscapes from the beginnings of Photorealism to present day, this exhibit showcases work from Richard McLean, Anthony Brunelli, Richard Estes and Bertrand Meniel to name a few.

Panoramic Views features wide angle scenes which have long been depicted in Photorealism. In the 1980’s, Richard Estes began using a wide-angle lens on his 35mm camera to capture the entire city skyline in fewer shots. He shoots multiple photographs of the same scene to create his paintings – combining aspects of these photographs to bring both the fore and background into focus at the same time. Working on film, Estes was unable to see the photographs before they were developed, and because of the high cost of processing film, fewer than 20 shots were used to create his image. In “M Train on Route to Manhattan Approaches the Williamsburg Bridge”, Estes chooses not to include the reflections of the inside of the subway car which would be seen on the window. Instead, he leaves the window clear so the viewer can see the skyline of the city. This creates an image that neither the eye nor the camera can capture; however, Estes convinces us it can be done.

Fast-forwarding to 2018, Bertrand Meniel’s “Chevy’s” was created using a similar technique as Estes, but thanks to the advancement of digital photography he uses hundreds of photographs to create the working photographic image that he references when painting. Meniel is able to obtain a crisp focus throughout the entire painting by compiling hundreds of shots into one composition in Photoshop. Panoramic Views showcases how Photorealists’ techniques evolve to best take advantage of the camera as a tool.