As one of the most important and influential photographers of the 20th century, he pioneered the use of color photography and created a vision of nature that has helped shape the way we view the world.

By revealing nature’s colorful nuances and variety, Porter played a pivotal role in bringing about the widespread acceptance of color photography as an artistic medium.

A major retrospective of this famed photographer whose career spanned more than 50 years is showing at the Portland Museum of Art through March 21. Titled “Eliot Porter: The Color of Wildness,” the exhibit features 162 prints drawn from the extensive collection of the Eliot Porter Archives of the Amon Carter Museum in Fort Worth, Texas.

Porter’s magnificent color photography of nature on display at the PMA almost enhances the subject matter. Color – particularly in “Trees in Fog, Great Spruce Head Island, Maine” (1961), “Rose Petals on Beach, Great Spruce Head Island, Maine “(1971) “Luna Moth, Silver Lake, New Hampshire” (1953) and “Ruffed Grouse’s Nest, Silver Lake, New Hampshire” (1953) -dazzles the eye and sweeps viewers into the images.

Porter believed, as quoted in “The Color of Wildness, published by Aperture in association with the Amon Carter Museum, that “when photographers reject the significance of color, they are denying one of our most precious biological attributes, color vision.”

An equally interesting part of the exhibit are black-and-white photographs taken by Porter early in his career. They show depth of form, subtle gradation of gray tones, and creative composition.

Born in 1901, the second of five children born into a family of learning and modest wealth, Porter graduated from medical school in 1929. He became interested in photography, drawing inspiration from photographers Alfred Stieglitz, Ansel Adams and Paul Stand. His brother, Fairfield Porter, introduced him to Stieglitz, who in 1938 gave Eliot a photography exhibit at his renowned gallery, An American Place, in New York City.

The exhibit vaulted Porter into the ranks of the leading American photographers and he almost immediately began his commitment to exploring the expressive potential of color.

Early in his career, Porter became known through photography books featuring his images, rather than through exhibitions of his work. By the end of his career, he had produced more than 9,000 photographic prints and 25 books; he had also been given more than 100 one-person exhibitions, including shows at such prestigious venues as The Metropolitan Museum of Art.

Trained as a doctor to do laboratory research, Porter had a scientific mind and a creative eye. He was unafraid to explore new mediums used in photography. He dared to stand alone and speak up for the use of colored film in a day and age when black-and-white film was preferred by many serious photographers. He repeatedly espoused the beauty of using color in photography in public lectures and essays.

A world traveler, Porter was also committed to drawing attention to environmental conditions around the world through his photographs of diverse, ecologically significant locales. Outstanding photographs in the PMA exhibit include “Ferns Moss, Dripping Water, Redbud Canyon, San Juan River, Utah” (1962); ” Lioness Drinking, Serengeti, Tanzania” (1970); “Land Iguana, Cartago Bay, Isabella, Galapagos, Island” (1966); “Running Water, Roaring Fork Road, Great Smokey Mountains, National Park, Tennessee” (1967); and “Sounium, Greece(1970).

Porter’s photographs of the Glen Canyon demonstrate his efforts, along with the Sierra Club, to stop widespread federal damming of rivers acoss the American West. His photos also reveal how the canyon’s terrain inspired him to shift from taking straightforward portraits of plants, animals and wooded areas to focusing on brilliant colors.

“Eliot Porter: The Color of Wildness” is a fascinating exhibit because viewers can see the artist’s growth from black-and-white photographs of the late 1930s to the dramatic color images taken later.

“To say that because a photograph is in color, it is less creative than one in black and white is to manifest a poverty of perception no less egregious than to condemn photography as a whole because it is a product of an optical instrument,” Porter is quoted as saying in the book “The Color of Wildness,” which is the exhibit’s catalog.

“I suspect if colored photography had been invented before black and white, the situation would be reversed,” he stated.

We are fortunate to have this exhibit in Maine; and it is truly appropriate because while Porter traveled throughout the world, he loved Maine best. In fact, some of his best work can be seen in his photographs of Great Spruce Head Island, near his family’s summer home.

Porter died in 1990 but his work lives on in his photographs, fresh and exciting, untouched by time.

See “The Color of Wildness.” It will lift your soul.

The exhibit will be up through March 21. The PMA, located at Seven Congress Square in downtown Portland, is open from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday; and from 10 a.m. to 9 p.m. Friday. Admission is $8 for adults, $6 for seniors and students with identification, $2 for children ages 6 to 17. Children under age 6 admitted free. No admission is charged Friday from 5 to 9 p.m. For more information, call 775-6148; or go online to www.portlandmuseumofart.org.

Pat Davidson Reef has a master’s degree in education and has taught art history at Catherine McAuley High School in Portland. She has written two children’s books, “Dahlov Ipcar, Artist,” and “Bernard Langlais, Sculptor.” She teaches children’s literature for teacher recertification for the American Institute for Creative Education.