Brookhaven, Mississippi
1978
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
