From Chippewa Road Bridge

1991

Lois Conner

(American, b. 1951)

Culture

America

Medium

platinum print

Measurements

Image: 16.6 x 42 cm (6 9/16 x 16 9/16 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 58.4 cm (14 x 23 in.)

Credit Line

The George Gund Foundation Collection in honor of David Bergholz, The Cleveland Museum of Art 2003.201

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Location

Not on view

Description

In 1991 Conner was commissioned by the George Gund Foundation to create a new body of work surveying the Cuyahoga River for the foundation’s annual report. From the elevated vantage point of the Chippewa Road Bridge in Brecksville, Ohio, she created with her antique 7-by-17-inch view camera a sweeping panorama of the Cuyahoga River Valley bathed in a distinctive glow. A narrow towpath follows the twisting waterbed as it winds through a densely wooded landscape. The pathway was originally part of the Ohio and Erie Canal but now provides recreational opportunities for this scenic natural environment. The combination of her large negative and the platinum printing process produced an image with limitless depth of field, subtly graduated shades of gray, and extraordinary depiction of details.