Marshall Gallery presents Backroom || John Chiara & William Dassonville, an intimate installation that places two artists in conversation across a century of photographic practice. Though separated by time and technological possibility, William Edward Dassonville and John Chiara share a profound commitment to materials, process, and the expressive potential of landscape. By bringing their work together, the exhibition invites visitors to consider how artistic vision endures even as methods evolve.
Dassonville, working in the early twentieth century, crafted images that hover between photography and drawing. His richly toned silver prints—soft, atmospheric, and reminiscent of charcoal—capture the eucalyptus groves and rolling hills of the San Francisco Bay Area with a sense of quiet reverence. Known for his mastery of the gum-platinum process and his dedication to pictorialist ideals, Dassonville shaped light into something almost tactile. His works in the exhibition offer a glimpse into a California that feels both familiar and dreamlike, shaped by patience, craft, and a deep respect for the natural world.
In contrast, John Chiara approaches similar terrain with a contemporary boldness that pushes the medium to its physical limits. Using hand-built cameras and a process that involves exposing large sheets of Ilfochrome paper directly, Chiara transforms landscapes into vivid, sculptural objects. His colors bloom with intensity, and his surfaces carry traces of their creation—marks, shifts, and imperfections that reveal the artist’s physical engagement with the land and the photographic material.
Presented in collaboration with Rose Gallery and The McIntosh Collection, this focused group of eight works highlights how both artists, each in their own era, reimagined photographic technique to reflect their personal response to place. Together, Dassonville and Chiara reveal how San Francisco’s hills, trees, and shifting light continue to inspire renewed ways of seeing.
Image: Carolina : Coral : Starr King, 2021 Ilfochrome Paper, Unique Photograph Print: 50 x 40 inches / Framed: 55 x 45 inches Unique © John Chiara
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