Metamorphosis

Herbert Bayer American, born Austria

Not on view

Unlike Cézanne, who wanted "to do Poussin over again from nature," Bayer worked a more elemental transformation, replacing the approximate geometric forms of the painter with absolute abstractions. The photograph is realistic, but the picture is no longer a window on a scene the viewer could inhabit. This landscape is for the mind.

Metamorphosis, Herbert Bayer (American (born Austria), Haag 1900–1985 Montecito, California), Gelatin silver print

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