![]() There are photographs of a sewing machine, wax fruit, ravaged dice (they belonged to the magician Ricky Jay), eggs, nests, skulls, an old Ford, many, many scientific specimens. Rosamond Purcell, "Wax Fruit, 19th Century, George Loudon Collection, London," c. ![]() Photo-conjuring claims a workforce of one. There are many photojournalists, though few can begin to match Benson’s track record. Think of her job description as photo-conjuror. They’re more in the way of being fables or parables or even fairy tales. ![]() Purcell, 80, is a visual reporter, too, but the stories she tells are in no way journalistic. There are several images in “Four Stories” you would very likely recognize. Benson, who turns 93 in December, is an eminent photojournalist: a visual reporter. ![]() “Rosamond Purcell: Nature Stands Aside” and “Harry Benson: Four Stories” run through Dec. Two shows currently at the Addison Gallery of American Art demonstrate how far apart those polarities can be and - far more important - how richly and vividly a camera can capture each. That world can be as intimate and interior and utterly other as scientific specimens and what the photographer Rosamond Purcell calls “ruined objects.” It can be as outsized and exterior and inherently human as momentous events and mighty personages. ANDOVER - Photography is as astoundingly, even avidly, varied as the world it records. ![]()
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