Picture this -- at the Peabody Essex Museum

By ALAN BURKE

Essex County Newspapers

SALEM _ Photographer Kenro Izu has spent more than 20 years trying to capture on film the elusive beauty of the world's sacred places _ grand monuments, usually ancient temples and churches, that are high points of human achievement.

For Izu, the aim is to capture more than an image, but also atmosphere and spirituality, qualities that usually can be appreciated only with the naked eye.

The Peabody Essex Museum is showcasing Izu's photography exhibit "Sacred Places" through Dec. 2.

But Izu's works are just one feature of a fall program that includes everything from photographs of American Indians taken by Edward S. Curtis, to the films and music of an increasingly forgotten American icon _ Bing Crosby, to some of the scariest movies ever made.

"The museum is excited about the fall for a couple of reasons," says spokesman Greg Liakos. "For the first time we're highlighting photography in a way we've never done before with Curtis and Izu."

Joining in Salem's traditional Halloween observations in October, the museum will also, once again, offer Erie Events, including a Macabre Matinee film festival showing chillers like Roman Polanski's "Repulsion" and the original version _ the scary one in black and white _ of "The Haunting."

"These are great movies," says Liakos.

Or would you like to swing with a star? Feature films and a lecture will be used to remember Bing Crosby. Jazz writer Gary Giddins, last seen in Ken Burns' PBS documentary on jazz, credits Crosby with inventing the singing style adopted by pop balladeers ever since. Giddins will speak on Oct. 4 at 8 p.m. as part of the Parker Lecture Series.

The Curtis show, running from Nov. 9 to March 17, will display prints of Indian life taken 100 years ago, at a time when the culture was closer to its pre-Columbian roots. Others own Curtis prints, but the museum's collection is special.

"It's Curtis' own show," says Liakos. "No other museum has a show that was selected by Curtis himself."

The Japanese born Izu's presentation of "Sacred Places," Liakos adds, is in the tradition of 19th century photographers like Curtis. Izu takes viewers all over Asia, the Middle East and Europe. In older cultures, society bestowed its wealth and genius on the spiritual side of life, producing often magnificent buildings and art work. And if those long ago creators took pride in their workmanship, Izu is equally painstaking about his.

In fact, his photographic process is so exacting that in 20 years his production of platinum palladium prints barely exceeds 2,000. Thus, the photos go beyond art, becoming something of a document of the places he visits.

And, as some observers have noted, that documentation is vital. In the modern era political and religious movements too often have made war on the past, destroying, for example, giant Buddhist sculptures in Afghanistan and vandalizing some of the temples of Angkor Wat in Cambodia.

Angkor Wat is prominently displayed in Izu's show.

In addition, the museum offers a wide variety of lectures, gallery talks, concerts and family programs, from a symposium on Cabinetmaking in America (Sept. 22 and 23) to a performance for children by the Gerwick Puppets on Oct. 14.

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