Brookhaven, Mississippi
Date1978
Label TextIn the 1970s Nixon chose to work with cumber-some, outmoded view cameras instead of hand-held 35mm equipment. The large negative produced richly toned, impressively detailed images, including topographicl views of urban Boston that were applauded as an updating of the nineteen-century topographical landscapes of Timothy O'Sullivan. Since 1977 Nixon has focused on several series of 'pictures of people.' The subjects have included ordinary people and low-income families; very old people, many in nursing homes; four sisters, one of them Nixon's wife; and people with AIDS. Because he places a premium on technical and compositional refinement, his picture-making inevitably tends to objectify the people as pictorial devices.
Object number82.56
Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present", September 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997, (09/12/1996 - 06/01/1997)Credit LineGift of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.
DimensionsOverall h.: 8 in.
Overall w.: 9 15/16 in.
MediumGelatin silver print
negative 1939, printed 1977
Object number: 86.225