The Power Of Peter Fetterman’s Photos

The Power of Photography by Peter Fetterman (ACC ART BOOKS $45) is a perfect Father’s Day gift – in fact, for me, this will be my gift of choice for birthdays and other present-bearing occasions.

Fetterman, the long-time impresario of The Peter Fetterman Gallery at Bergamot Station in Santa Monica, has suffered the difficulties of a business dependent on the purchase and sale of artworks, along with the changing tastes of collectors as generational, societal, and economic shifts have occurred. And then there was the pandemic.

I remember sitting with Peter in his gallery before the pandemic (I was conducting an interview with photographer Judy Lauder) and despite his normal sociability and ebullience, I detected a certain sense that he was approaching burnout, mystified by the market, changing tastes and the continuing financial pressures of 21rst Century existence. For Fetterman, as for so many, the pandemic lockdown, could well have been a death knell to his business.

But then, a funny thing happened. Unburdened by the daily gallery grind, Fetterman decided to send out an email with one image, where he described its resonance for him – not as a galleryist or dealer – not as a photography critic, but just as someone who has lived with these images for a long time and in whom photography continues to provoke a personal reaction. At first, Fetterman imagined he would do so for a day, or a week. And then he just kept going. Days turned into weeks, and weeks into months in an ongoing series he called, The Power of Photography.

Reading those emails, Fetterman shared his reactions, sometimes his personal history, sometimes recounting his relationship with the photographer or his work but mostly he shared what the photograph said to him. And in doing so, one could feel Fetterman reconnecting and renewing what it is he loves about Photography and about individual photographers and the images they’ve made.

Along the way we learn certain facts of Fetterman’s life: He was born in Northern England to a solidly middle-class family. Defying all expectations, he went into the film business as a producer with some success in England, which brought him to Los Angeles. One night he met someone who was selling part of their photography collection and there was an image that spoke so strongly to Fetterman that he spent almost all of the money he had at the time on it. From that point on, he was on the hunt: meeting photographers such as Henri-Cartier Bresson who would introduce him to Sebastian Salgado – as one image led to another, and another, and a gallery and now a book.

Fetterman’s email series on the Power of Photography struck a chord – and not just with me. ACC Art Books contacted Fetterman saying they wanted to make a book of his series. The Power of Photography has now been published and is available for purchase – and the Peter Fetterman Gallery is open again (with certain Covid safety protocols).

What makes the book so enjoyable is the same as the email: It is one great image after another, with personal commentary. As one turns the pages, one is struck by the variety of subjects, approaches, and the artistry of each. The Power of Photography is not a how-to-book about collecting photography or appreciating photography, not a history of photography or a series of biographies of great photographers. However, there is no way one can look at the images gathered in this book and read Fetterman’s commentary and not come away with a deeper knowledge of photographers and photography and a better sense of what moves you in a photograph. It may not make you into a photography collector, but it is almost impossible to finish the book and feel the desire to see more photography and that itch to have some hanging on your wall.

And should you want to do so, you might consider visiting the Peter Fetterman gallery, online or in-person. Should you show up at the Peter Fetterman gallery you may indeed find Peter there, happy to talk about and even sign The Power of Photography.

The Peter Fetterman Gallery can be found at Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave., Gallery A1, Santa Monica, California 90404. Hours: Wednesday – Saturday 11am – 5pm.