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Brookhaven, Mississippi

1978

American, born 1947

In 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.

Gelatin silver print

Overall h.: 8 in.

Overall w.: 9 15/16 in.

Gift of the American Telephone and Telegraph Co.

82.56

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistorySeattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, "Collection Highlights: 1945 To The Present", September 12, 1996 - June 1, 1997, (09/12/1996 - 06/01/1997)

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