The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 28, 2024

Rock Tower

Rock Tower

1991
(American, 1943-)
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.)
Location: not on view

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.
  • (Laurence Miller Gallery, New York, NY)
    September 15, 1993
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 358
  • CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art."
    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).
  • {{cite web|title=Rock Tower|url=false|author=Ruth Thorne-Thomsen|year=1991|access-date=28 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1993.157