4 photographs, gelatin silver print on paper
Tate Collection
Works with images
General Collection
Tate American Fund
Collection
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/mark-ruwedel-13509" aria-label="More by Mark Ruwedel" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Mark Ruwedel</a>
Ice Age
Presented by the American Fund for the Tate Gallery, courtesy of Jane and Michael Wilson 2015
<p><span>Ice Age </span>1995–2000 consists of four black and white prints by the American photographer Mark Ruwedel. The four photographs in Tate’s collection are part of a large-scale ongoing project of the same name. Taken on the dried glacial lakes in the Great Basin area which extends across parts of Nevada, California and Utah, the photographs document traces of human activity from different periods of time – ancient trails, abandoned railways and the outlines of vanished structures. The dry climate means that the evidence of humanity is preserved in eternal decay within the environment; the landscape is figured both as passive terrain and active agent, and it is the play between the two that Ruwedel draws on throughout his work.</p>
paper print 4 photographs gelatin silver
15 January 2018 – 15 December 2018
2018-12-15
15 January 2018 – 15 December 2018
2018-12-15
2018-01-15
Tate Modern (London, UK)
http://www.tate.org.uk/modern/
2018-01-15
Mark Ruwedel
Collection based display
Ice Age
image, each: 188 × 240 mm
Presented by the <a href="/search?gid=999999976" data-gtm-name="tombstone_link_bequest" data-gtm-destination="list-page--search-results">American Fund for the Tate Gallery</a>, courtesy of Jane and Michael Wilson 2015
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<p>
<i>Ice Age </i>1995–2000 consists of four black and white prints by the American photographer Mark Ruwedel. The four photographs in Tate’s collection are part of a large-scale ongoing project of the same name. Taken on the dried glacial lakes in the Great Basin area which extends across parts of Nevada, California and Utah, the photographs document traces of human activity from different periods of time – ancient trails, abandoned railways and the outlines of vanished structures. The dry climate means that the evidence of humanity is preserved in eternal decay within the environment; the landscape is figured both as passive terrain and active agent, and it is the play between the two that Ruwedel draws on throughout his work.</p>
<p>All of his series show Ruwedel’s ongoing interest in the dynamic relationship between the man-made and natural environment and his interest in ‘the evidence left behind by the human use of place and space’ (quoted in ‘Mark Ruwedel Interviewed by Stanley Wolukau-Wanambwa’, <i>Paper Journal</i>, 27 February 2017).  In the ongoing<i> </i>series <i>Message</i> <i>from the Exterior</i>, begun in 2007 – which contains the sub-series <i>Dusk </i>(see Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-dusk-50-p14638" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14638</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-dusk-40-p14645" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14645</span></a> ), <i>Desert Houses </i>(see Tate L03189) as well as more self-contained works like <i>Neighbors #4 (Apple Valley) </i>2009 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-neighbors-4-apple-valley-p15068" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P15068</span></a>)– individual houses are captured in various states of dilapidation, showing the legacy of human influence on, and interaction with, the landscape. Human influence is also shown to be comically hubristic in <i>Westward the Course of Empire (RR tunnels) </i>1996–2006 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-columbia-and-western-21-p79979" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P79979</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-camas-prairie-19-p79990" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P79990</span></a>, <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-spokane-portland-and-seattle-5a-rr-tunnel-p15053" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P15053</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-tonopah-and-tidewater-40-rr-grade-p15060" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P15060</span></a> and <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-northern-pacific-13-rr-cut-p15062" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P15062</span></a>), which examines the impact on the landscape of the railroads built in the US and Canadian West during the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.</p>
<p>Ruwedel’s series reveal a focused interest in cataloguing and collecting, presenting many examples of a specific phenomenon. Ruwedel’s work can also be read as historical evidence and typology, something he has noted himself when considering the legacy of his photography: ‘Regardless of their intentions almost all photographs grow up to become documentary photographs … my assumption is that they have some sort of information in them that someone might find of use.’ (‘Mark Ruwedel, Interview by The Photographers’ Gallery’ 2019, <a href="https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/content/db2019-mark-ruwedel">https://thephotographersgallery.org.uk/content/db2019-mark-ruwedel</a>, accessed 20 August 2019). Ruwedel has stated that his work develops out of ‘being out there and photographing and looking around’ (‘Mark Ruwedel, ‘Mark Ruwedel – Studio Visit’, <i>TateShots</i>, 6 December 2013, <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv64hL0VaGg">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Kv64hL0VaGg</a>, accessed 22 January 2020), his series unfolding organically and developing gradually over long periods of time, although some are shorter and self-contained (see ; and <i>Crossing</i> 2005, <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-crossing-2-p14602" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14602</span></a>–<a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/ruwedel-crossing-bottle-p14607" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P14607</span></a>).</p>
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<b>Further reading</b>
<br/>Karen Love (ed.), <i>Mark Ruwedel: Written on the Land</i>, Presentation House Gallery, North Vancouver, Canada 2002.<br/>Mark Ruwedel, <i>Westward: The Course of Empire</i>, New Haven and London 2008.</p>
<p>Emma Jones<br/>August 2019<br/>Arthur Goodwin<br/>January 2020</p>
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Summary
2024-04-09T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT