Lynes composed this picture from two negatives. The seams between them were airbrushed out so that his surprising anatomical conjunction would have the perfect aplomb of dream imagery. Alfred Barr's Museum of Modern Art exhibition Fantastic Art, Dada, and Surrealism (1936) included The Sleepwalker, probably a copyprint made by Lynes from this original.
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Inscription: Pencil crop marks on print, recto UL, UR, CR, LR;
Artist's Estate; [Robert Miller Gallery, New York]; John C. Waddell (April 1, 1981)
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," September 23–December 31, 1989.
San Francisco Museum of Modern Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 28–April 22, 1990.
Los Angeles County Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," May 10–July 15, 1990.
High Museum of Art. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," February 5–April 28, 1991.
Museum of Fine Arts, Boston. "The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars. The Ford Motor Company Collection at The Metropolitan Museum of Art," June 8–August 4, 1991.
IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia. "The New Vision, IVAM, Centre Julio Gonzalez, Valencia," January 20, 1995–March 26, 1995.
Culturgest, Lisbon. "The Century of the Body: Photoworks 1900-200," October 6, 1999–December 19, 1999.
Musée de l'Elysée, Lausanne. "The Century of the Body: Photoworks 1900-200," February 3, 2000–April 2, 2000.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop," October 10, 2012–January 27, 2013.
National Gallery of Art, Washington D.C. "Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop," February 17–May 5, 2013.
Museum of Fine Arts, Houston. "Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop," June 2–August 25, 2013.
Hambourg, Maria Morris. The New Vision: Photography between the World Wars, Ford Motor Company Collection at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 1989. no. 70.
Fineman, Mia. Faking It: Manipulated Photography Before Photoshop. New York: The Metropolitan Museum of Art, 2012. no. 175, pp. 167, 248.
George Platt Lynes (American, East Orange, New Jersey 1907–1955 New York)
1932
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