East of Tonopah, Nevada (Looking West)

Ann Treer led a nomadic early life, living in a variety of countries during and after World War II, learning to speak several languages and trying her hand at design, acting, and writing. She began photographing in Sydney, Australia, while working as an operator for a commercial photographer. In 1954 she moved to New York, where she taught herself printing techniques in her bathroom and studied with the photographers Sid Grossman and David Vestal. Hugh Edwards was impressed by Treer’s “unadorned, direct photography,” and in 1968 he organized her first solo show in the Midwest, a career overview, and acquired eight photographs. Here, Treer framed the mountainous scenery along the roads of Nevada through the rear window of a car, portraying the vast American landscape as one that is shaped by humanity’s presence.