Photographs by Robert Burley, Geoffrey James and Lee Friedlander, 1996

Through a commission from the Canadian Centre for Architecture, Robert Burley was one of three contemporary photographers who spent six years interpreting the work of Frederick Law Olmsted (1822-1903), North America’s most important landscape architect. Viewing Olmsted: Photographs by Robert Burley, Lee Friedlander, and Geoffrey James brings together 155 photographs drawn from this extraordinary commission.  A travelling exhibition curated by David Harris circulated throughout North America offering visitors an opportunity to understand Olmsted’s achievement visually, by looking at an unprecedented range of photographic evidence. A catalogue published by MIT Press featured portfolios by each photographer as well as essays by John Szarkowski and Phyllis Lambert.