Unseen Pompeii: The Photographs of William Wylie is on view September 15 through November 18, 2016, in the Lora Robins Gallery of Design from Nature, University of Richmond Museums. William Wylie (American, born 1957) is a photographer whose work explores the landscape. His favored medium is an 8x10 large-format camera, which records a uniformly high level of detail and tone. The artist works by establishing a relationship to a site through repeated visits and producing images that delve into the interconnected natural and cultural history of these places.

The exhibition focuses on his newest project, Pompeii Archive, which grew out of his interest in the photography of Giorgio Sommer (German, 1834-1914) of the excavations at Pompeii and his own curiosity about how landscapes accumulate visual markers and meanings. Concerning his Pompeii Archive project, Wylie notes that “change is inescapable at Pompeii…I document the changing relationships between artifacts, ruins, spaces, and the passage of time.”

William Wylie’s photographs have been included in numerous exhibitions both nationally and internationally, he is the author of four books of photographs, and his work can be found in the permanent collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, National Gallery of Art, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Yale University Art Gallery, among others. He has been an artist in residence at the American Academy in Rome and the Center for Land Use Interpretation in Utah, and he has held a Guggenheim Fellowship (2005), among other university fellowships.

Organized by the University of Richmond Museums, the exhibition was curated by Richard Waller, Executive Director, University Museums, in collaboration with the artist. The exhibition is presented in cooperation with the University’s Department of Classical Studies, and the exhibition and related programs are made possible in part with the support of the University’s Department of Classical Studies.