Wilkes Tucker: What makes a good photo

When Time Magazine named Anne Wilkes Tucker "America's best museum curator" last year, the article opened: "If you follow photography, where Anne Wilkes Tucker is going next is something you need to know."

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As it turns out, her next destination is Juneau.

Tucker, the curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston, is judging Alaska Positive, the biennial statewide photography exhibit sponsored by the Alaska State Museum. Tucker is in town this week to select the images for the show and she'll deliver a presentation on photography Saturday, Sept. 7, at the museum.

She said her job as curator is to make a judgment about what photographers are doing and whether or not they are doing it wisely, cleverly or thoughtfully, and advancing the field in some way.

"The artist's job is to figure out what they want us to know or feel or see," she said. "Their second job is to figure out how to materialize it so the rest of us can see what's in their head. What we (curators) look for is when somebody's managed to do just that."

The Houston Chronicle credited Tucker with building the photography collection at the Houston museum into one of the finest in the United States.

In her early days there in the mid-1970s, according to Time Magazine, "It was a museum with fewer photographs than you probably have on your refrigerator."

Thanks to Tucker's keen eye and talent it now has a collection of almost 12,400 images, representing masters such as Edward Steichen, Andre Kertesz and Diane Arbus. The collection ranges from Japanese portraits of the 1850s to 20th-century paparazzi shots.

Anne Wilkes Tucker

"What does the museum collect and why"

What: Slide show and presentation.

Who: Anne Wilkes Tucker is curator of photography at the Museum of Fine Arts in Houston.

When: 7 p.m. Saturday, Sept. 7.

Where: Alaska State Museum.

Cost: Free.

Tucker has been a photographer herself and earned degrees in art history and in photography. She put the two together when she earned her graduate degree as photographic historian.

Tucker has seen tremendous changes in photography during her career. But the essence of a good photograph hasn't changed. Whether it's digital, silver gelatin or albumen prints, what makes a successful image comes down to one question: Does it work?

"What they use doesn't matter," she said. "I don't care as long as whatever process they've chosen seems to be the right kind of process for the idea they want to express."

Tucker said that although many photographers have gotten rid of their darkrooms and embraced the digital realm, she doubts photographers will ever fully abandon the medium's wide range of techniques.

"There are still people who use 19th-century processes and there are people making modern Daguerreotypes," she said, referring to a process that dates back to Abe Lincoln's presidency. "There will always be people who prefer black and white photographs."

Saturday night Tucker will talk about building the collection at the Houston museum. She'll show slides drawn from the museum's photographs.

"Our collection spans the entire history of photography," she said. "Part of my talk will be about the history, what we collected and why."

State museum curator Mark Daughhetee said the museum has been fortunate over the years to bring top names to Juneau to judge Alaska Positive.

"Alaska is a draw," said Daughhetee. "We are a relatively small institution, compared to others throughout the country, and we've been able to get well-known photographers, curators or artists here."

Daughhetee said it doesn't hurt to have Alaska artists seen by influential curators throughout the country, and the contacts have led to invitations for shows at other museums and galleries.

Since 1970, the state museum has sponsored the exhibit to encourage photography as an art form in Alaska. Each year a guest curator selects the images for the show. Two years ago internationally renowned photographer Ralph Gibson selected 65 images from more than 250 submitted.

The deadline for submissions for Alaska Positive 2002 is Sept. 5 and the show opens Oct. 4.

Daughhetee, a photographer himself, said the museum has collected photographs from every Alaska Positive show over the past three decades.

"I hope to put together a retrospective exhibition from those shows at some point," he said. "It really does trace the history of the medium. This is a relatively new medium, 150 years, and things have changed significantly."

Riley Woodford can be reached at rileyw@juneauempire.com.