portland museum of art

with rain in the forecast, i walked across the street to the portland museum of art, where there is a current exhibition of edward weston.  there was no photography allowed of the photos, but it would have resulted in the photo of a photo, so i will refer to the review by the museum.

Weston:  Leaves of Grass

In early 1941, Edward Weston was approached by the Limited Editions Club of New York and invited to make photographs to illustrate its deluxe edition of Walt Whitman's epic poem Leaves of Grass.  Although he balked at the suggestions, the opportunity the project offered to travel cross-country and visit parts of the U.S. that were new to him convinced Weston to undertake it.  This exhibition of 53 photographs by Weston follows the route of his cross-country trip.  The Whitman photographs, mostly made with a large 8X10 format camera, are exceptionally wide-ranging with particular emphasis on the man-altered landscape rather than images of untouched nature.  The exhibition will feature images from the West, the South, the Mid-Atlantic and New England, including two images from Maine.  This exhibition was organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston.

also on exhibit were plein-aire paintings by Rackstraw Downes.  These were also not photographable, but beautiful (especially the industrial looking paintings of duct work and west texas oil refineries).
http://www.bettycuninghamgallery.com/return_exhibition.aspx?ID=23
see a new york times review from july, 2010 by following this link http://www.nytimes.com/2010/07/25/arts/design/25downes.html

i was able to photograph an isabel bishop painting,

women interacting