(Enlarge) William James Stillman’s Temple of Olympian Zeus from the Southeast, 1869,”is one of the images in “The Creative Photograph in Archaeology,” continuing through Dec. 10 at the Kuhn Library Gallery in Catonsville.

When photography was invented in the mid-19th century, one of the many purposes it served was to document archaeological sites that previously had to rely on drawings and paintings by way of visual documentation. An exhibit at UMBC's Kuhn Library Gallery, "The Creative Photograph in Archaeology," showcases 19th- and 20th-century photos of famous ancient Greek ruins.

The basic question posed by this exhibit is whether photos intended as scholarly resources also have intrinsic value as independent works of art. For the answer to that question, all you have to do is look at the many exhibited photographs. They objectively depict such landmark ruins as the Parthenon, but the photographers obviously are making esthetic decisions in terms of the angles and lighting they want in their compositions.

Thank goodness these photos deserve the gallery treatment, because this exhibit otherwise suffers from a skimpy catalogue and minimal wall labels. You're given so little information about the photographers, archaeological sites and other relevant issues that you mostly have to rely on whatever judgments can be made with your own eyes.

An example of how intriguing and frustrating the exhibit tends to be is James Robertson's "The Temple of Olympian Zeus from the West" (1853-54). Your attention is first drawn to several lofty and isolated stone columns standing in an austere landscape.

In Robertson's photo, four people dressed in Greek native costume are grouped at the base of one of the columns, satisfying the eternal photographic rule that it's useful to have people in an architectural photo to provide a sense of scale. To the left of this group, a metal fence surrounds a fallen and shattered column; to the right of the group, a small and more modern building presumably serves as shelter for two uniformed men standing in front of it. You're looking at what presumably is an early attempt to protect a valuable site, but don't look to the catalogue or label for any insights on this matter.

Even if curatorial insights are mostly notable for their absence, you can fully appreciate the artistic qualities of these photos and also get an atmospheric feeling for how the ancient Greek ruins fit within the landscape. If there's an overall mood conveyed by these pictures, it's one of somber grandeur.

The majority of the photos depict the Parthenon and other sites atop the Acropolis in Athens.

William James Stillman has an 1869 interior shot of the Parthenon emphasizing the shadows cast by its columns. Shooting outside and from quite a distance in another photo, Stillman provides a long view of the Acropolis that shows how newer buildings and even a windmill have sprung up around it.

Frederic Boissonnas has a striking 1903 long view of the Acropolis in which the foreground is occupied by a shepherd and his flock.

Such long shots are juxtaposed in the exhibit by close-up shots. One of the most peaceful is Socratis Mavrommatis' tightly cropped 1981 shot of a single Doric column in the Parthenon; one of the most disturbing is the same photographer's 1982 photo of cracks in a Parthenon column that were made by cannon balls and bullets.

The ravages of weather, war and plunder have not been kind to Greek monuments, but they endure in fragmentary fashion. As for the eternal values represented by such monuments, the exhibit offers many examples of enduring beauty.

One of the most beautiful photos was taken by Herbert List inside the National Archaeological Museum in Athens in 1937. Depicting a marble statue from the back, List masterfully deploys shadows in order to make the statue seem like a living human being.

"The Creative Photograph in Archaeology" runs through Dec. 10 at UMBC's Kuhn Library Gallery in Catonsville. Call 410-455-2270 or go to www.aok.lib.umbc.edu/gallery/.

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