Rubbish as Design
Date1965
Maker
Imogen Cunningham
American, 1883-1976
Label TextIn 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.
Object number89.65
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, 2008Credit LineGift of John H. Hauberg
Dimensions9 1/2 x 9 7/8 in. (24.1 x 25.1cm)
MediumGelatin silver print
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