Richard Stefani (1933–2022)
From Before the Water Rose: Celilo Falls, 1956
There is almost no stillness here.
Water plunges across the center of the photograph. Fishermen stand above it on wooden platforms, their long poles cutting diagonally across Richard Stefani's composition. A large dip net hangs over the current.
At lower left, another figure enters the frame.
Beyond the falls, still more people work along the rocks. And beyond them, the railroad bridge stretches across the Columbia Gorge.
Richard has compressed an entire world into one photograph.
What is particularly striking is the relationship between the people and the water. The fishermen do not appear separate from the landscape, observing it from a safe distance. Their platforms extend directly over the river. Their equipment reaches into it. Their bodies are positioned in relation to its current.
The photograph makes the physicality of fishing at Celilo impossible to ignore.
Balance mattered.
Position mattered.
The construction of the platforms mattered.
Knowledge of the river mattered.
Richard was photographing an activity, but he was also photographing a system of relationships between human beings, tools, structures, rock and water.
The river dominates the frame.
And yet the people know how to stand within it.
Estate Edition
Printed from Richard Stefani's original 1956 color negative.
Chromogenic photographic print on Fuji Crystal Archive DP II paper, produced in Germany and mounted under matte, reflection-reducing acrylic glass with aluminum Dibond backing. Presented in a handcrafted Basel black oak floater frame. Ready to hang.
Each work is accompanied by Richard Stefani Estate documentation recording the photograph, edition number, edition size, production specifications, and provenance.
10 × 10 in.
Edition of 25
$1,500
20 × 20 in.
Edition of 15
$3,200
30 × 30 in.
Edition of 10
$6,500
Edition sizes are fixed and will not be increased.
Richard Stefani (1933–2022)
From Before the Water Rose: Celilo Falls, 1956
There is almost no stillness here.
Water plunges across the center of the photograph. Fishermen stand above it on wooden platforms, their long poles cutting diagonally across Richard Stefani's composition. A large dip net hangs over the current.
At lower left, another figure enters the frame.
Beyond the falls, still more people work along the rocks. And beyond them, the railroad bridge stretches across the Columbia Gorge.
Richard has compressed an entire world into one photograph.
What is particularly striking is the relationship between the people and the water. The fishermen do not appear separate from the landscape, observing it from a safe distance. Their platforms extend directly over the river. Their equipment reaches into it. Their bodies are positioned in relation to its current.
The photograph makes the physicality of fishing at Celilo impossible to ignore.
Balance mattered.
Position mattered.
The construction of the platforms mattered.
Knowledge of the river mattered.
Richard was photographing an activity, but he was also photographing a system of relationships between human beings, tools, structures, rock and water.
The river dominates the frame.
And yet the people know how to stand within it.
Estate Edition
Printed from Richard Stefani's original 1956 color negative.
Chromogenic photographic print on Fuji Crystal Archive DP II paper, produced in Germany and mounted under matte, reflection-reducing acrylic glass with aluminum Dibond backing. Presented in a handcrafted Basel black oak floater frame. Ready to hang.
Each work is accompanied by Richard Stefani Estate documentation recording the photograph, edition number, edition size, production specifications, and provenance.
10 × 10 in.
Edition of 25
$1,500
20 × 20 in.
Edition of 15
$3,200
30 × 30 in.
Edition of 10
$6,500
Edition sizes are fixed and will not be increased.
