Exhibitions

Revealing Character:

Robb Kendrick’s Texas Tintypes

October 19, 2006 - February 4, 2007

Modern day cowboys and cowgirls from ranches all across Texas photographed in the vintage style of tintype photography. Visit the Revealing Character website for more information about this exhibit.

Though many regard cowboys and cowgirls as heroes from the bygone days of the Old West, Texas still boasts a number of real-life working cowboys and cowgirls on its modern-day ranches. Although stoical upon first glance, the faces of these individuals show tenacious character and the burden of hard ranch work in the new exhibition Revealing Character: Robb Kendrick’s Texas Tintypes, opening Oct. 19 at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame.

Revealing Character: Robb Kendrick’s Texas Tintypes features the images of more than 100 cowboys and their families through tintypes, a 19th-century photographic method, taken by photographer Robb Kendrick. Frost Bank commissioned his tintype project and conceived a multi-city traveling exhibition of his work.

Revealing Character: Robb Kendrick’s Texas Tintypes, includes 66 tintypes of cowboys taken all over the Lone Star State plus 12 enlarged prints of tintype images. Four cowgirls, primarily from West Texas, are also highlighted in the exhibit. Curated by Margaret Blagg, executive director of the Old Jail Art Center in Albany, Texas, Revealing Character: Robb Kendrick’s Texas Tintypes will tour museums across the state through 2009.

To accompany the exhibition, Bright Sky Press released “Revealing Character: Texas Tintypes,” a beautiful art book featuring Kendrick’s tintypes as well as field notes he took while interviewing the cowboys he photographed, essays by Texas’ dean of letters John Graves, Frost Bank President Tom Frost, and curator Blagg and an afterword by cowboy poet and essayist Buster McLaury. “Revealing Character: Texas Tintypes” is the winner of the 2006 Mitchell A. Wilder Gold Award for Excellence in Publication and Media Design, the 2006 National Western Heritage Award for Best Photography Book and finalist for the 2006 Fred Whitehead Award for Best Design of a Trade Book. Named by Reader's Digest as one of "America's 100 Best Legacies-Best Western."

The tintype project grew out of a heritage-themed photography campaign suggested by Frost’s advertising and branding agency, Austin-based McGarrah/Jessee. Prints of the tintypes were initially featured in a distinctive two-page spread – created by McGarrah/Jessee and presented by Frost Bank, entitled “Character of Texas Expedition” – that has been running in Texas Monthly since July 2004.

“Character has always been important to us at Frost. In fact, our company was established based on the character, principles and values of our founder, Col. T.C. Frost. We are proud to be a part of developing and presenting this wonderful exhibit and proud to support a photographer of Robb’s caliber in his efforts to explore the character of Texas,” said Frost CEO Dick Evans. “He’s not only preserving history that should be important to all Texans; he’s capturing images of character that best exemplify what’s good and unique about Texas.”

Curator Blagg explained this is an extraordinary photography exhibition because tintypes are literally one-of-a-kind creations, more like paintings or drawings than photographs.

“Today photographs are infinitely reproducible, “Blagg said. “Robb Kendrick’s tintypes, created in a 19th-century method, are each original works of art. The care he takes to compose and create each one is akin to the creative effort of making a painting.”

In a labor-intensive process, a tintype is made by coating a thin metal plate with emulsion, sensitizing it in silver nitrate, and exposing it in the camera before the emulsion dries. A lavender varnish is flowed onto the tintypes after the photo is taken to preserve the image. Making even a few tintypes requires hours of work.

“Tintypes are a challenging medium because they require the subject to stay still for a number of seconds as the image burns onto the plate, but the process provides so much reward in terms of truly capturing someone’s soul,” said Kendrick. “It’s a perfect medium for exploring a subject matter like character, and there is no better place to find that character than in today’s Texas cowboys. I’ve been privileged to meet so many of these men and women through my travels, and to spend the time with them that this photographic process demands. I hope that Texans will see a little of themselves and their ancestors in this exhibit as it travels across the state. It’s an honor to share these stories and photographs.”

Kendrick, a native Texan whose work has been featured in such publications as National Geographic, Sports Illustrated, Audubon, and Smithsonian, notes that he is one of very few photographers in the United States using the tintype process. Developed in the mid-1800s, the technique is considered the first major American contribution to photography.

“We are delighted to host Revealing Character: Robb Kendrick’s Texas Tintypes. Though the images are of modern-day people, their faces possess an intriguing timeless quality,“ said Tricia Taylor Dixon, curator of the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame. “Western values and western heritage is a huge component of our mission and Robb captures those in each frame.”

In addition to running at the National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame through February 4, 2007, the exhibit will also be presented at the Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum in Austin, the Old Jail Art Center in Albany, the Ranching Heritage Center at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, and the Houston Museum of Natural Science in Houston.

The National Cowgirl Museum and Hall of Fame honors and documents the lives of women who have distinguished themselves while exemplifying the pioneer spirit of the American West. Located at 1720 Gendy Street in Fort Worth’s Cultural District, the museum includes interactive exhibit galleries, three theaters, a retail store and a grand rotunda housing the Hall of Fame. The museum is open seven days a week – 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 9 a.m. to 8 p.m. Friday and Saturday and 11:30 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. Sunday. Adult admission is $8 and $7 for children ages 3 to 12 and seniors ages 60 and up. Please visit www.cowgirl.net or call 817/336-4475 or 800/476-FAME (3263) for more information.