The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of May 31, 2026

A horizontally oriented dye destruction print depicts a thin nude woman with a light skin tone reclining on a white sheet. Her head rests to our left, face turned away, with dark hair pooling beneath her. She rests her hand against her chest and extends her legs toward our right, revealing three small tattooed stars on her thigh. The sheet and figure are elevated by a dark metal frame against a shadowed background.

Phie Nude Front

2011

Richard Learoyd

(British, b. 1966)
England
Unique camera obscura dye destruction print, flush-mounted
Image: 121.9 x 210.8 cm (48 x 83 in.); Frame: 163.8 x 241 x 7.6 cm (64 1/2 x 94 7/8 x 3 in.)
Gift of Dominique Levy 2024.169
Location: Not on view

Did You Know?

This photograph, which is unique, was made with a room-sized camera.

Description

Richard Learoyd built a camera consisting of two rooms. The subject, along with a strong bank of lights, occupies one room. The photographic paper is exposed in an adjacent dark room (the camera obscura). A lens connects the two chambers. “The material in the camera [that is, the photographic paper] is the work itself,” says the artist. “It is a direct recording of the subject and is, in the truest sense, unique.”
  • 2011
    Richard Learoyd [1966–] (the artist)
    April 29, 2011
    (Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco, CA), sold to Fred and Laura Ruth Bidwell, Cleveland, OH
    October 11, 2023
    (Phillips, New York, NY), sold to Dominique Lévy, London, England and New York, NY
    October 11, 2023–June 3, 2024
    Dominique Lévy, given to The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
    June 3, 2024–
    The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH
  • Learoyd, Richard, and Fraenkel Gallery. Richard Learoyd : Presences. San Francisco, Calif.: Fraenkel Gallery, 2011. pl. 19
    Steven Litt, “Bidwell + Cleveland Museum of Art Transformer Station gallery launches with ‘Light of Day’ and Vaughn Wascovich photos,” Cleveland.com, February 16, 2013. www.cleveland.com
  • Richard Learoyd: In the Studio, The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (August 30-November 27, 2016); Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO (February 10-June 11, 2017).
    Light of Day, Transformer Station, Cleveland, OH (February 1-May 4, 2013).
  • {{cite web|title=Phie Nude Front|url=false|author=Richard Learoyd|year=2011|access-date=31 May 2026|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/2024.169