CBS Sunday Morning, The Visual Delights of Camera Obscura
By utilizing a basic principle of optics once used by Renaissance artists like Canaletto and Vermeer, photographer Abelardo Morell builds a "camera obscura" with which to capture landscapes and architectural wonders. Serena Altschul reports on how Morell's fascinating photographs really bring the outside in.
For-Site Foundation, Abelardo Morell, Tent Camera Photographs
Capturing images of the Golden Gate Bridge with his tent camera, a portable form of camera obscura, photographer Abelardo Morell talks about craft, invention, and the mysteries of photography.
2017 Lucie Awards Honoree: Abelardo Morell, Fine Art
Tribute video for 2017 Lucie Awards Honoree Abelardo Morell for the Achievement in Fine Art Award. Presented at Zankel Hall at Carnegie Hall in New York City, Sunday October 29th 2017.
Abelardo Morell and the magic of the camera obscura
Artist Abelardo Morell reimagines scenery by turning entire rooms into camera obscuras — effectively merging interior and exterior spaces — and then photographing the results. He discusses how he developed this peculiar practice over time, and how he has found fulfillment infusing everyday environments with new enchantment.
The Making of Water / Fern / Ink
The story behind the making of Abelardo Morell's new photogravure portfolio, Water / Fern / Ink.
Return to Cuba: In the Footsteps of Walker Evans
During the Cuban Footsteps project, filmmaker and director Ross McDermott documented the work of Sam Abell, Cig Harvey, Abelardo Morell, Mark Klett and Greg Gorman. The resulting documentary brings together five unique visions of Cuba’s complex and transforming cultural landscape. McDermott intertwines Evans’s pre-Castro Cuba with the busy streets of Havana and the countryside of Viñales. From the quick yet studied street-style photography of Sam Abell to the uncommon camera-obscura practices of Abelardo Morell, these master photographers reinterpret Cuba for the 21st century.
Cliché-Verre Talk: Abelardo Morell
Among the few contemporary photographers working in cliché-verre, Abelardo Morell stands out. As he writes of his work in this medium, “The images that I’m most happy with are the result of multiple pressings and repeated inking which, to my eye, border on chaos. Making cliché-verre images gives me a welcome opportunity to play with painting and drawing in the most rudimentary way; as a photographer, it’s nice to be able to get my hands dirty.” Morell discusses his work and this artistic medium with Anne Leonard, Manton Curator of Prints, Drawings, and Photographs at the Clark. This event is offered in conjunction with A Change in the Light: The Cliché-Verre in Nineteenth-Century France.
Abelardo Morell in Normandy After Monet
Abelardo Morell visits Normandy to make his unique camera obscura images in locations where Claude Monet painted.
Abelardo Morell: On Photography, Life, and Dancing
The Cuban-born photographer visited the Art Institute prior to the installation of Abelardo Morell: The Universe Next Door. This exhibition, the first retrospective of his photographs in 15 years, features over 100 works made from 1986 to the present, including many newer color photographs never exhibited before.
The Power of Photography to Celebrate / Nat Geo Live
Using the ground beneath his feet as a canvas, camera obscura photographer Abelardo Morell inspires fresh appreciation for America's national parks.
Ansel Adams in Our Time at the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston
The national parks hold a special meaning for photographer Abelardo Morell. While growing up in Cuba, he fell in love with the popular Hollywood westerns playing at the local cinema. Once he immigrated to the U.S., he was eager to discover the region for himself. Using a camera obscura, Morell transforms scenes of the national parks—made familiar by Ansel Adams—into otherworldly, impressionistic images.
Clarice Smith Distinguished Lecture Series: Abelardo Morell
In this talk, Abelardo Morell discusses his work and process. Morell is best known for his Camera Obscura images. Using techniques developed in the ancient world to project an outdoor scene onto the walls of a darkened room, he creates a natural optical phenomenon that he then captures with a large-format camera, as seen in Camera Obscura Image of Manhattan View Looking West in Empty Room that is part of SAAM’s Latino and photography collections.
Abelardo Morell, Artist Talk 10.12.16
Visiting Artist Lecture Series // Brown Visual Art Presents Abelardo Morell, October 12, 2016, at the List Art Building, Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island.
Conversation Cafe: Abelardo Morell
In late October, FAM's curator Lauren Szumita virtually sat down with world-renowned photographer Abelardo Morell; as part of a Conversation Café. During the event, Morell shed light on the inspirations and techniques behind his camera obscura photographs.
2023 Anderson Ranch Visiting Artist: Abelardo Morell
Artist talk with Andrea Wallace as part of the 2023 Anderson Ranch Visiting Artist Program.