The Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre

© Martin Karplus

© Martin Karplusf

When 23-year-old Martin Karplus headed to the Mathematical Institute at Oxford University in England for a postdoctoral fellowship in 1953, he had his Leica IIIC camera in hand.

He traveled and photographed throughout Europe. And, when he returned to the United States he continued to travel and shoot images, before beginning a career as a university chemist. In the1960s, he visited South American and Asia, again working with the Leica and Kodachrome film.

"Meeting people and being exposed to their cultures, art, architecture, and cuisines was an incredible experience, which has had a lasting effect on my life," says Karplus.

A series of his photographs, In Times Past: Kodachrome Images, is featured in The Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre in Stoneham, MA, January 19 through March 18. An opening reception is January 19, 6-7:30 p.m. The exhibit runs parallel to the theater's productions of The Edwards Twins and Romeo and Juliet.

"Throughout these travels, I was intent on recording what I saw and took many photographs," Karplus says. "They preserve my vision of a world, much of which no longer exists.

"Economic development, universal communication, war, and tourism have taken their toll. Many of the towns and villages have been destroyed or replaced, everyday costumes of the time are at best worn at events for tourists, and much of the social fabric of the communities has been destroyed. Many of the people I photographed belonged to the last generation to live in a way that had lasted for centuries."

The photographs in this exhibit are "the work of the young student whose genius had not yet been recognized within the ivory towers of science," wrote Jean-Pierre Changeux, a scientist who met Karplus decades ago. "But, he was already showing his talents to great advantage, in total freedom and with an outstanding sense of observation, understanding and creative imagination."

In addition to the historical aspects of the post-World War II photographs, they have special value because they are in color and made with Kodachrome film, which is no longer available. (Kodak stopped making Kodachrome 25 in 2002, and the last roll of Kodachrome film was developed in December 2010.)

Also, Kodachrome was rarely used in the 1950s by professional photographers, who primarily worked with black and white film.

During the 1999-2000 academic year, Karplus found himself back at Oxford as a professor. With the help of a photographic craftsman, he scanned many of his slides so digital exhibition prints could be made.

And, Karplus says, " Because of the stability of Kodachrome, particularly when it is not exposed to light, the color quality of the images was perfectly preserved,"

The Griffin Museum's Atelier Gallery at the Stoneham Theatre is open Tuesdays through Saturdays, 1-6 p.m., and one hour before each theater performance. The gallery can be accessed through the Stoneham Theatre's lobby at 395 Main Street in Stoneham, MA.

The Stoneham Theatre is a professional nonprofit regional theater that presents eight shows a year. For more information, visit www.stonehamtheatre.org (Map).