Outerbridge was as a commercial photographer, but also produced photographs as a means of personal expression. In the early 1920s, he made platinum prints of commonplace objects, transforming them into Cubist-derived abstractions through an acute sensitivity to light and pattern. Here, a simple box casts curious shadows, creating a flattened geometric composition reminiscent of Cubist still lifes by Picasso and Braque (see Gallery 908 and 910). Abstraction exemplifies Outerbridge’s ability to control spatial relationships, a skill that led critics to compare him to painters of his time.
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Artwork Details
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Title:Abstraction
Artist:Paul Outerbridge Jr. (American, New York 1896–1959 Laguna Beach, California)
Date:1922
Medium:Platinum print
Dimensions:8.6 x 11.4cm (3 3/8 x 4 1/2in.) Mount: 35.6 x 28cm (14 x 11in.)
Classification:Photographs
Credit Line:Gift of the artist, 1929
Accession Number:29.82.1
Inscription: Signed and dated in pencil on mount, recto C, below print: "Paul Outerbridge Jr. // 1922."; titled in pencil on mount, verso UC: "Abstraction"; inscribed in ink on mount, verso LC: "Property of: Paul Outerbridge, Jr. // To be returned to: 49 West 74th Street // New York City // U.S.A."; inscribed in unknown hand in pencil on mount, verso UL corner: "3 [encircled]"; inscribed in unknown hand in ink on mount, verso UR: "1 [encircled]"
Paul Outerbridge, Jr.
There are two versions of this photograph: one retouched, one unretouched. This print is unretouched. See LACPS catalog and A Singular Aesthetic for a discussion of the two variants.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Thirty Photographers: A Selection from the Museum's Collection," April 12–June 1, 1969.
Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland. "Pantheon der Photographie," June 19, 1992–September 20, 1992.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 1," December 4, 1992–May 4, 1993.
New York. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "American Still Life: 1915–1950," February 1, 1995–January 28, 1996, no catalogue (on view from June 2, 1995).
The Metropolitan Museum of Art. "Johnson Gallery, Selections from the Collection 29," May 21–September 23, 2001.
J. Paul Getty Museum. "Paul Outerbridge: Command Performance," March 31, 2009–August 9, 2009.
The Metropolitan Museum of Art, Modern and Contemporary Art. "Reimagining Modernism - Photographs Rotation 1," July 21–November 16, 2014.
Howe, Graham. Paul Outerbridge, Jr.. 1st ed. Los Angeles: Center for Photographic Studies, 1976. p. 18, fig. 4.
Howe, Graham, ed. Paul Outerbridge, Jr.: Photographs. New York: Rizzoli, 1980. p. 36.
Dines, Elaine, ed. Paul Outerbridge, A Singular Aesthetic: Photographs & Drawings, 1920–1941: A Catalogue Raisonné. 1st ed. Santa Barbara: Laguna Art Museum, 1981. p. 47, 160.
Honnef, Klaus. Pantheon der Photographie im XX. Jahrhundert. Bonn, Germany: Kunst-und Ausstellungshalle der Bundesrepublik Deutschland, 1992. p. 139.
Paul Outerbridge Jr. (American, New York 1896–1959 Laguna Beach, California)
1924
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