Artwork Page for Rock Tower

Details / Information for Rock Tower

Series Title: Songs of the Sea

Rock Tower

1991

Ruth Thorne-Thomsen

(American, 1943–2025)
Culture
America
Medium
gelatin silver print, toned
Measurements
Image: 11.5 x 8.6 cm (4 1/2 x 3 3/8 in.); Paper: 19.8 x 16.9 cm (7 13/16 x 6 5/8 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 30.6 cm (14 x 12 1/16 in.)
Credit Line
John L. Severance Fund 1993.157
Impression
9
Copyright
Copyright
This artwork is known to be under copyright.
Location
Not on view
Print

Description

Since the mid-1970s, Ruth Thorne-Thomsen has created a highly inventive body of work by challenging and exploiting photography's implied truthfulness (that is, the camera never lies). For this provocative image, she assembled a number of miniature props to construct a mysterious, surreal seascape enriched by warm, atmospheric light. Photographed close-up, Rock Tower was made with a pinhole camera. Using a paper negative, the pinhole camera provides an infinite depth of field. It is thus impossible to discern the scale of the objects depicted in the print. Reality has been transformed into illusion.

Rock Tower

1991

Ruth Thorne-Thomsen

(American, 1943–2025)
America

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