Rubbish as Design

1965

American, 1883-1976

In this photograph, Imogen Cunningham offers a dynamic view of the creative potential of ordinary materials. Here, the way debris is arranged within the frame produces a composition that confuses our relationship to the material world and what we are viewing. In her hands, the rubbish is transformed into a complex arrangement of light, texture, and abstraction. The surface of the triangular structure becomes a space that absorbs and reflects the environment in which these materials are placed, a container of information much like the photograph itself. Michael John Burns, Gyorgy Kepes, and William Eggleston's photographs on view in this exhibit also give form to the ordinary, often creating substance out of shadows, skewed perspectives and light.

Gelatin silver print

9 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (24.1 x 25.1cm)

Gift of John H. Hauberg

89.65

Not currently on view

Resources

Exhibition HistoryTacoma, Washington, Tacoma Art Museum, The Innovative Photography of Imogen Cunningham from the Collection of the Seattle Art Museum, Dec. 15, 1995-Mar. 24, 1996

Seattle, Washington, Seattle Art Museum, Smoke and Mirrors, May 10-Nov. 9, 2008

Seattle Art Museum respectfully acknowledges that we are on Indigenous land, the traditional territories of the Coast Salish people. We honor our ongoing connection to these communities past, present, and future.

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