id: 155370
accession number: 1990.119
share license status: Copyrighted
url: https://clevelandart.org/art/1990.119
updated: 2025-02-09 04:40:55.955000
Le Desert de Retz, Study 32, France, 1988. Michael Kenna (British, b. 1953). Gelatin silver print, selenium and sepia toned; image: 19 x 19 cm (7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.); matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund 1990.119 © Michael Kenna
title: Le Desert de Retz, Study 32, France
title in original language:
series:
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creation date: 1988
creation date earliest: 1988
creation date latest: 1988
current location:
creditline: John L. Severance Fund
copyright: © Michael Kenna
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culture: England, 20th century
technique: gelatin silver print, selenium and sepia toned
department: Photography
collection: PH - British 20th Century
type: Photograph
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CREATORS
* Michael Kenna (British, b. 1953) - artist
Michael Kenna American, b. England, 1953- Mystery and a sense of Gothic romance inhabit the photographs of Michael Kenna. It is not insignificant that his first camera was a Diana box camera, given to him in 1966, because the inherent soft-focus of that simple apparatus characterizes his later medium- and large-format works. He is known primarily for his atmospheric landscapes and astute handling of light, line, texture, and form. Ruth Bernhard, whom Kenna met in 1978, and Ansel Adams, with whom he worked as a technical assistant (1982, 1983), influenced his sensibility. Born in Widnes, Kenna was educated at St. Joseph's College (1965-72), the Banbury School of Art (1972-73), and the London College of Printing (H.N.D. in photography, 1976). From 1973-77 he worked for magnum Photos in London and as assistant to Anthony Blake at cbs. In 1977 he moved to the United States, settling in San Francisco. Kenna has had well over 40 one-person and more than 80 group exhibitions since 1978 throughout the United States, Europe, and Japan. Among his awards are the Imogen Cunningham Award (1981), the Art in Public Buildings Award from the California Arts Commission (1987), and the Institute for Aesthetic Development Award, Pasadena (1989). Kenna's photographs have illustrated limited-edition printings of Sir Arthur Conan Doyle's classic tale The Hound of the Baskervilles (1985, 1986). Additional publications include Michael Kenna, Photographs (1984), Michael Kenna 1976-1986 (1987), Night Walk (1988), Le Désert de Retz (1990), Michael Kenna: A Twenty Year Retrospective (1990), and The Elkhorn Slough and Moss Landing. Photographs by Michael Kenna (1991). Kenna lives in San Francisco. A.W.
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measurements: Image: 19 x 19 cm (7 1/2 x 7 1/2 in.); Matted: 50.8 x 40.6 cm (20 x 16 in.)
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inscription: Written in pencil on recto of mount: "12/45 Michael Kenna [signed]. 1988"; in pencil on verso: "LE DESERT de RETZ, STUDY 32, FRANCE 1988 1990 / Michael Kenna [signed]/#12/45/4"
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CURRENT EXHIBITIONS
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LEGACY EXHIBITIONS
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PROVENANCE
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RELATED WORKS
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CITATIONS
"1990 Photography Acquisitions." The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art 78, no. 2 (1991): 46-59.
page number: Reproduced and Mentioned: p. 53
url: https://www.jstor.org/stable/25161315
Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996.
page number: Reproduced: P. 207
url:
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IMAGES