The Cleveland Museum of Art
Collection Online as of December 21, 2025
Edith, Christmas Morning, Danville, Virginia
1971
(American, 1941-)
Image: 20.3 x 25.2 cm (8 x 9 15/16 in.); Matted: 35.6 x 45.7 cm (14 x 18 in.)
Gift of Museum members in 1989 1989.435
Location: Not on view
Description
Emmet Gowin's first important photographic achievement was a body of work created from the mid-1960s through the early 1970s. The photographs were deeply personal images of his wife, Edith, and their two children, Elijah and Isaac, as well as other family members. In Edith, Christmas Morning, Danville, Virginia, Gowin captured the turmoil—physical and emotional—of Christmas morning. His wife surveys both the wreckage of wrapping paper and boxes and the delight of her young sons, playing with their newly opened gifts. The image is given an almost mystical quality by Gowin's dramatic use of light and shadow. The circular format was created by attaching a lens intended for a smaller camera onto his 8-x-10-inch view camera.- E. H. T. "The Year in Review: Selections 1989." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 77, no. 2 (1990): 38-78. p. 71, no. 95 25160106Hinson, Tom E. "Contemporary American Photographs: An Exhibition." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 9 (1992): 306-51. p. 348, no. 31, repr. p. 330 25161375Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 187
- Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 24, 1996-February 2, 1997).Contemporary American Photographers. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 18, 1992-January 3, 1993).
- {{cite web|title=Edith, Christmas Morning, Danville, Virginia|url=false|author=Emmet Gowin|year=1971|access-date=21 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}
Source URL:
https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.435