Returned to lender The Met accepts temporary loans of art both for short-term exhibitions and for long-term display in its galleries.
Untitled
Ralph Eugene Meatyard American
Not on view
An optician with a passion for literature, jazz, and Zen philosophy, Ralph Eugene Meatyard purchased his first camera in 1950 to photograph his newborn child. He soon became a convert to the medium, a dedicated amateur who eventually won a national following among curators and poets. Ironically, considering his chosen trade, Meatyard was recognized early in his too short life for his No-Focus photographs such as this one of a figure with arms akimbo. He described the visual ambiguity and the struggle viewers have trying to bring these images into focus, as "a coming and going, a glance, the touch of a hand, a growing and a dissolving—whispers and shouts."