Bert Call exhibit at Center for Moosehead History

GREENVILLE — Early in its existence the Dexter Historical Society received a donation of negatives and photos from Bert Lincoln Call, a photographer in Dexter from 1886 until the early 1940s. Call’s stock-in-trade was portraiture of local citizens, but his passion was for the woods, lakes and rivers of northern Maine which he visited annually.

His images comprise a unique photographic record of the North Woods. The public has not seen a large part of this extraordinary collection, which Call began 120 years ago. Through Call’s photos we have a visual documentation of the way the Maine Woods looked only 30 years after Henry David Thoreau visited Maine. For the show organizers have chosen quotes from Thoreau’s book “The Maine Woods” to match Call’s photographs at various locations along the travel of Thoreau.

The 35 framed black and white prints are on display at the Center for Moosehead History, 6 Lakeview Street in downtown Greenville. The center is open daily and for more information please call 695-2909. More information on the exhibit can be found at www.callthoreauexhibit.com.

A committee has produced a high quality traveling art exhibition of Call’s work that has been exhibited in various institutions throughout Maine. To accomplish this, they contacted the experienced printer Todd Watts who produced 23- by 30-inch restored prints from Call’s negatives.

Watt is an internationally recognized photographer and respected photographic printer. He is a graduate of the School of Visual Arts in New York City. Watt’s portfolios have been published by Parasol Press Ltd, for over 30 years. Among other projects, Watts printed and produced all of Berenice Abbott’s photography including nine limited edition portfolios from 1974 until her death.