Art News

The Chrysler gets nostalgic with Colorama: panoramic photos reflect life and times of an idealized 1960s

NORFOLK, VA.- The Chrysler Museum of Art’s newest photography exhibition invites viewers to discover America in the 1960s as it probably never was. Colorama’s amazing array of 36 panoramic prints presents the American ideal—heartwarming holidays, sweeping landscapes, fun family vacations, grand excursions—and the virtue of amateur photography. The exhibition is on view through December 31, and admission is free. For 40 years travelers at New York’s Grand Central Terminal scurried to their destinations under the brilliance of one of the most effective advertising programs in history, Kodak’s Coloramas. The massive panoramas were known as the largest photographs in the world. All told, 565 of these 18’ x 60’ illuminated illustrations adorned the terminal from 1950 to 1990, and the campaign included images by some of the top photographers in the country, including Ansel Adams. With both technical a