The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 19, 2024

Emma Street, Lakeland, Florida

Emma Street, Lakeland, Florida

1982
(American, 1947-)
America, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 19.5 x 24.5 cm (7 11/16 x 9 5/8 in.); Paper: 20.3 x 25.3 cm (8 x 9 15/16 in.); Matted: 40.6 x 50.8 cm (16 x 20 in.)
Gift of Museum members in 1989 1989.461
Location: not on view

Description

Nicholas Nixon began his career in the late 1960s, photographing architectural views and cityscapes before turning to portraiture. During the late 1970s and early 1980s, he recorded working-class and impoverished Americans in urban and rural locations. In this visually complex image of several generations, Nixon positions the subjects and photographs them up close to decrease the sense of deep space, allowing the subjects to dominate the composition. Although physically close, the eyes of the figures are diverted from one another and the camera, and they appear emotionally distant and in their own separate worlds. The photograph avoids sentimentality while providing a social documentation and a study of human interaction.
  • Hinson, Tom E. "Contemporary American Photographs: An Exhibition." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 79, no. 9 (1992): 306-51. Reproduced & Mentioned: p. 338-39 www.jstor.org
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 256
  • Looking at Children: Photographs from the Permanent Collection. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 20-December 4, 2002).
    CMA, July 20 - December 4, 2002; "Looking at Children". No catalog
    CMA, Nov. 18, 1992 - Jan. 3, 1993: "Contemporary American Photographers," CMA Bulletin, 79 (Nov. 1992), p. 341, no. 56, repr. p. 339.
    CMA, Feb. 6 - April 15, 1990: "Year in Review 1989," CMA Bulletin, 77 (Feb. 1990), p. 72, no. 122 (not exhibited).
  • {{cite web|title=Emma Street, Lakeland, Florida|url=false|author=Nicholas Nixon|year=1982|access-date=19 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1989.461