id: 154995
accession number: 1989.55
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1989.55
updated: 2024-03-26 02:00:07.611000
Untitled, 1966. Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925–1972). Gelatin silver print; image: 18.8 x 18.7 cm (7 3/8 x 7 3/8 in.); matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1989.55
title: Untitled
title in original language:
series:
series in original language:
creation date: 1966
creation date earliest: 1966
creation date latest: 1966
current location:
creditline: John L. Severance Fund
copyright:
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culture: America, 20th century
technique: gelatin silver print
department: Photography
collection: PH - American 1951-Present
type: Photograph
find spot:
catalogue raisonne:
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CREATORS
* Ralph Eugene Meatyard (American, 1925–1972) - artist
Ralph Eugene Meatyard American, 1925-1972
In 1950 Gene Meatyard purchased a camera from his employer, an optical firm in Lexington, Kentucky, in order to photograph his newborn son. From that time until his premature death from cancer, Meatyard declared himself a "dedicated amateur," creating a body of work that reflected his fascination with the camera as both a tool of scientific vision and a means for metaphoric discovery. His square-format, black-and-white images ranged from dynamic environmental abstractions to surreal theatrical tableaux, often featuring his children and their friends obscured by Halloween masks and arranged in bizarre, sometimes frightening poses. His most well-known series was published as The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater (1974), in which the children and Meatyard's wife, Madelyn, masqueraded as a fictitious family of grotesques.
Themes of faith, family, and home pervade Meatyard's visions, reflecting his interest in Zen philosophy, poetry, and art history and theory. Included in his circle of friends were poet and painter Guy Davenport, Christian theologian and monk Thomas Merton, poet and essayist Wendell Barry, poet Denise Levertov, poet and publisher Jonathan Williams, and literary historian Hugh Kenner.
Born in Normal, Illinois, and educated at Williams College (1943-44) and Wesleyan University (1950), Meatyard was largely self-taught as a photographer, although he did study for brief periods in the mid-1950s with Van Deren Coke, Minor White, and Henry Holmes Smith. In 1961 he received the New Talent U.S.A. award. Exhibited widely throughout the 1960s and early 1970s, his work was the subject of several posthumous retrospective exhibitions. Major publications include Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1970); The Unforeseen Wilderness (1971), a collaboration with Wendell Barry; and Ralph Eugene Meatyard: An American Visionary (1991), organized by the Akron Art Museum. A.W.
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measurements: Image: 18.8 x 18.7 cm (7 3/8 x 7 3/8 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)
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inscriptions:
inscription: Written in blue ink on verso: "Madelyn O. Meatyard"; in pencil on verso: "133 A-66"
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
title: The Year in Review for 1989
opening date: 1990-02-06T05:00:00
The Year in Review for 1989. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 6-April 15, 1990).
title: Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art
opening date: 1996-11-24T05:00:00
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).
title: Julie Mehretu: Portals (FRONT International: Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows)
opening date: 2022-07-16T04:00:00
Julie Mehretu: Portals (FRONT International: Oh, Gods of Dust and Rainbows). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (July 16-November 13, 2022).
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
* {'description': 'CMA, Feb. 6 - April 15, 1990: "Year in Review 1989," CMA Bulletin, 77 (Feb. 1990), p. 68, no. 47.', 'opening_date': '1990-02-06T00:00:00'}
* {'description': 'CMA, November 20,1996 - February 2, 1997: "Legacy of Light: Master Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art."', 'opening_date': '1997-02-02T00:00:00'}
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PROVENANCE
Estate of the Artist
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
page number: Reproduced: P. 233
url:
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IMAGES