The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of December 14, 2025

One and Three Photographs [Ety.]

1965

Joseph Kosuth

(American, 1945-)

vintage photograph, photograph of a photograph, photographic enlargement of dictionary definition of ‘photograph,’ original photo-certificate with original cut-out definition

Overall: 40.2 x 52 cm (15 13/16 x 20 1/2 in.)

Purchase from the J. H. Wade Fund 2009.1

Location: Not on view

Description

Kosuth is regarded as one of the most significant artists to champion conceptualism, which values the idea of an artwork over the physical object itself. In this work, Kosuth compares three different ways to present information, represented by an etymological dictionary definition of photograph, a photograph by Linda Butler of the nearby Peter B. Lewis building designed by Frank Gehry, and a life-size photograph of Butler’s photograph. Kosuth’s groundbreaking work presciently questions what it means for any image to be an “original” and whether this distinction influences a picture’s meaning.

Morsiani, Paolo. "Analyzing Art." Cleveland Art: Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine 49, no. 8 (October 2009): 6-7. Mentioned and reproduced: p. 6-7 archive.org
Cleveland Museum of Art. The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014. Mentioned and reproduced: P. 117
{{cite web|title=One and Three Photographs [Ety.]|url=false|author=Joseph Kosuth|year=1965|access-date=14 December 2025|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2009.1