[Vault of Denver National Bank, Fisher & Fisher Architechts]

Laura Gilpin American

On view at The Met Fifth Avenue in Gallery 850

Colorado native Laura Gilpin was a celebrated photographer of the American Southwest, specializing in sweeping landscapes and craggy summits. Lesser known is her commercial practice, which she first honed as a student at the Clarence H. White School in the 1910s. Founded by White, a fine-art photographer, the school advocated a rigorous formal approach even in projects for hire. This commission for a Denver architect’s illustrated monograph finds Gilpin taking such teachings to heart. With her help, a bank vault designed by the firm approaches grandeur. She comes in close and frames the vault from below. Light ripples across its steel surface in her exquisitely soft platinum print—its natural elements approaching manmade sublime.

[Vault of Denver National Bank, Fisher & Fisher Architechts], Laura Gilpin (American, 1891–1979), Platinum-palladium print

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