Edith, Chincoteague, Virginia,

1967

<p> This group of photographs showcases Gowin’s ability to capture familial intimacy and his attentiveness to close relationships. Although his wife, Edith, is his most photographed subject, Gowin also frequently took pictures of her family in the Danville, Virginia, area, where Emmet and Edith were born, met, and married. Reflecting on his extended family, Gowin once said, “I admired their simplicity and generosity and thought of the pictures I made as agreements. I wanted to pay attention to the body and personality that had agreed out of love to reveal itself.” Gowin portrays Edith standing in shadows beneath a tree, pregnant and linking arms with her sisters, and from behind, her face hidden. The Gowins’ niece Nancy, another favorite subject, stands in a moment of utter contentment, holding an egg in each hand, arms entwined. </p> <p> Gowin joined the faculty of Princeton University’s Visual Arts Program in 1973 at the invitation of Peter C. Bunnell, the newly appointed inaugural McAlpin Professor of the History of Photography and Modern Art. He retired in 2009. </p>