Opening reception on June 24, 2008
Positioning the New presents a comprehensive survey of the work of Canadian photographer Selwyn Pullan, who studied photography at the Los Angeles Art Center (now the Art center College of Design), graduating in 1950. Architectural photography, then a relatively new profession, had emerged in parallel to modernism and advances in architecture in North America during the late 1930s, and Pullan found his niche in this genre. Pullan’s photographs promoted the new style to a populace eager to embrace a modern way of living. His images were frequently included in photo essays in major design and architecture periodicals nation-wide.
This retrospective demonstrates the photographer’s intimate connection to the development of modernism on the West Coast of Canada and highlights the social, economic, and cultural forces that changed the face of Vancouver and the region during the post-war boom.