Chicago, Impression at Night

1932

Not on view

Coster began his career as a commercial photographer for the prestigious Underwood & Underwood studio, first in New York and later in Chicago, where he created advertisements for Marshall Field’s, among other clients. Influenced by the formal experiments of European New Vision photographers such as Laszlo Moholy-Nagy, Coster created a series of dynamic abstracted views of Chicago at night in the early 1930s. During World War II Coster shifted his focus to photojournalism, reporting on labor and civil-rights issues for Life and Fortune magazines. In 1946 Moholy-Nagy invited him to lecture on New Vision photography at the Institute of Design in Chicago, where Coster continued to teach on and off through the 1960s.

Artwork Details

Overview

Signatures, Inscriptions, and Markings

Provenance

Exhibition History

Title: Chicago, Impression at Night
Artist: Gordon H. Coster (American, Baltimore, Maryland 1906–1988)
Date: 1932
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 35.1 x 27.4 cm (13 13/16 x 10 13/16 in.)
Classification: Photographs
Credit Line: Ford Motor Company Collection, Gift of Ford Motor Company and John C. Waddell, 1987
Object Number: 1987.1100.360
Rights and Reproduction: Photograph and print by Gordon Coster
Curatorial Department: Photographs

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[Mental Institution Patient], Gordon H. Coster American, Gelatin silver print — [Mental Institution Patient]
Gordon H. Coster
1945–50

[State Street at Madison, Looking South, Xmas Shoppers], Gordon H. Coster American, Gelatin silver print — [State Street at Madison, Looking South, Xmas Shoppers]
Gordon H. Coster
ca. 1945

[Nurse in Distress], Gordon H. Coster American, Gelatin silver print — [Nurse in Distress]
Gordon H. Coster
ca. 1935

Construction of Chevrolet Sign at Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street, Chicago, Gordon H. Coster American, Gelatin silver print — Construction of Chevrolet Sign at Michigan Avenue and Randolph Street, Chicago
Gordon H. Coster
1932–34

Impressions of Chicago - The Lights of Grant Park, Gordon H. Coster American, Gelatin silver print — Impressions of Chicago - The Lights of Grant Park
Gordon H. Coster
1932

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