{
    "data": {
        "id": 161606,
        "accession_number": "2000.18",
        "share_license_status": "Copyrighted",
        "tombstone": "Semi-Abstraction, c. 1923. Paul Outerbridge (American, 1896\u20131958). Platinum print; paper: 9 x 7.7 cm (3 9/16 x 3 1/16 in.); matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, John L. Severance Fund, 2000.18",
        "current_location": null,
        "title": "Semi-Abstraction",
        "creation_date": "c. 1923",
        "creation_date_earliest": 1918,
        "creation_date_latest": 1928,
        "artists_tags": [
            "male"
        ],
        "culture": [
            "America"
        ],
        "technique": "platinum print",
        "support_materials": [],
        "department": "Photography",
        "collection": "PH - American 1900-1950",
        "type": "Photograph",
        "measurements": "Paper: 9 x 7.7 cm (3 9/16 x 3 1/16 in.); Matted: 45.7 x 35.6 cm (18 x 14 in.)",
        "dimensions": {
            "paper": {
                "height": 0.09,
                "width": 0.077
            },
            "matted": {
                "height": 0.457,
                "width": 0.356
            }
        },
        "state_of_the_work": null,
        "edition_of_the_work": null,
        "copyright": null,
        "inscriptions": [
            {
                "inscription": "numbered 141",
                "inscription_translation": null,
                "inscription_remark": null,
                "sortorder": null
            }
        ],
        "exhibitions": {
            "current": [],
            "legacy": [
                {
                    "description": "Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Nov. 21 - Jan. 10, 1982: \"Paul Outerbridge: A Singular Aesthetic: Photographs & Drawings, 1921-1941: A Catalogue Raisonn\u00e9,\" catalogue no. 24.",
                    "opening_date": "1982-11-21T00:00:00"
                }
            ]
        },
        "provenance": [],
        "find_spot": null,
        "related_works": [],
        "former_accession_numbers": [],
        "did_you_know": null,
        "description": "Rather than recording the likeness of a particular individual, Outerbridge concentrated only on his model's torso in this early work. Photographing at close range in soft light, he skillfully emphasized formal elements, such as curving line and patterns created by shadow. This focus on the fundamental shapes and contours of the human form reflects the common interest of many early 20th-century photographers in exploring modernist approaches to art. Here the platinum printing process produced a subtle range of rich gray tones that enhance the sensuality of the image. Outerbridge continued his study of figures, still lifes, and landscapes in his personal work, while simultaneously pursuing a successful career in fashion and advertising photography from the 1920s to the 1950s.",
        "external_resources": {
            "wikidata": [
                "https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q79984537"
            ],
            "internet_archive": []
        },
        "citations": [
            {
                "citation": "Cleveland Museum of Art, \u201cRecent Acquisitions Press Release,\u201d June 19, 2000, Cleveland Museum of Art Archives.",
                "page_number": "Mentioned: p. 2-3",
                "url": "https://archive.org/details/cmapr4343"
            }
        ],
        "url": "https://clevelandart.org/art/2000.18",
        "images": {},
        "alternate_images": [],
        "creditline": "John L. Severance Fund",
        "image_credit": null,
        "sketchfab_id": null,
        "sketchfab_url": null,
        "gallery_donor_text": null,
        "athena_id": 161606,
        "creators": [
            {
                "id": 760,
                "description": "Paul Outerbridge (American, 1896\u20131958)",
                "extent": null,
                "qualifier": null,
                "role": "artist",
                "biography": "Paul Outerbridge, Jr. American, 1896-1958\r\n\r\nPaul Outerbridge, Jr., was a modernist photographer and early pioneer in color work who embarked on a successful advertising career in the 1920s. Following studies at the Art Students League in his native New York (1915-17) and service in the British Royal Flying Corps (Canada) and U.S. Army, Outerbridge enrolled in Clarence H. White's School of Photography in 1921. Influenced by the school's strong emphasis on design, he created carefully composed, often abstracted, still-life studies of everyday objects. After a year of study he began work as a commercial photographer, providing innovative images for such publications as Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Harper's Bazaar. He also continued his personal work, producing still lifes, cityscapes, and figure studies.\r\n\tIn 1925 Outerbridge moved to Paris, where he established himself as a freelance photographer and became acquainted with a number of artists, including Man Ray, Marcel Duchamp, and Berenice Abbott. Three years later he was in Berlin working on motion pictures and that same year also worked in London as a set advisor to film director E. A. Dupont. Returning to the United States in 1929, Outerbridge resumed his commercial work, first in New York City, then in Monsey, New York. He also experimented with color photography, perfecting the three-color carbo process technique that he used during the 1930s.\r\n\tOuterbridge moved to Hollywood in 1943, but soon left to settle in Laguna Beach and open a small portrait studio. Following his marriage to fashion designer Lois Weir in 1945, Outerbridge closed his studio to focus on their joint fashion business, Lois-Paul Originals. He also traveled extensively during these years. From the mid-1950s until his death in 1958, Outerbridge contributed a column on color photography to U.S. Camera magazine. M.M.",
                "name_in_original_language": null,
                "birth_year": "1896",
                "death_year": "1958",
                "use_in_caption": true,
                "include_extent": false,
                "weight": 1
            }
        ],
        "legal_status": "accessioned",
        "accession_date": "2000-06-05T00:00:00",
        "sortable_date": 1918,
        "date_added_to_oa": null,
        "date_text": "c. 1923",
        "collapse_artists": false,
        "on_loan": false,
        "recently_acquired": false,
        "record_type": "object",
        "conservation_statement": null,
        "has_conservation_images": false,
        "cover_accession_number": null,
        "is_nazi_era_provenance": false,
        "impression": null,
        "alternate_titles": [],
        "is_highlight": false,
        "updated_at": "2026-03-27 00:01:42.794000"
    }
}