The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 18, 2024

Daytime soap opera has one purpose—to sell laxatives, fast food and vitamins. Our audience is women who sit at home worrying about their health and family. We provide escapism. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

Daytime soap opera has one purpose—to sell laxatives, fast food and vitamins. Our audience is women who sit at home worrying about their health and family. We provide escapism. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California

1976
(American, b. 1938)
America
gelatin silver print
Image: 20.4 x 16.3 cm (8 1/16 x 6 7/16 in.); Paper: 25.3 x 20.1 cm (9 15/16 x 7 15/16 in.)
Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2019.297
Location: not on view

Did You Know?

There was a serious decline in job satisfaction in America in the last half of the 1970s.

Description

In his examination of people’s attitudes towards their jobs, Owens gives us the subjects’ own words to accompany his images of them. The series was not as much a critique as a mirror that allowed people some distance from which to view their situation. This and his other projects conveyed both the comfort of suburban middle-class life and an undercurrent of dissatisfaction and disillusionment with it.
  • ?-2019
    George Stephanopoulos [1961-], New York, NY
    December 2, 2019
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • {{cite web|title=Daytime soap opera has one purpose—to sell laxatives, fast food and vitamins. Our audience is women who sit at home worrying about their health and family. We provide escapism. Tri-Valley Area, Northern California|url=false|author=Bill Owens|year=1976|access-date=18 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2019.297