Tops in the Arts, 1981 :

Memories and musings The Arts/ David Elliott

PHOTOGRAPHY:

In this bursting but still not sufficiently appreciated art special thanks go to the locals who, In very different ways, used scale with bold, audacious confidence: Mary Ahrendt and Laslo Vespreml at N.A.M.E., Adam Siegel at Frumkin-Struve and Jane Wenger at the Museum of Contemporary Art. Also, a Chicago master who came Into view again: Kenneth Heilbron, whose great circus pictures are still up through Thursday at Douglas Kenyon. Into the feast pot also put Michael Johnson and David Plowden at the soon to close (sob) Gilbert Gallery; Barbara Crane, Lorie Novak and (to Jan. 23) German avant-gardists at the Center for Contemporary. Photography; Chuck Close’s epic Polaroids at the MCA; Roger Vall and Elliott Erwltt at Kenyon; Ruth Bernhard and Berenice Abbott at Edwynn Houk; Patty Carroll’s woozy color shots and (to Jan. 22) Bob Thall’s landscapes at MoMlng, and superb Italian views by both Rusty Culp and Rihard Pare at the Art Institute.