Untitled
Maker
Barbara Crane
(American, 1928 - 2019)
Date1978
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage (Sheet): 5 × 6 7/8 in. (12.7 × 17.5 cm)
Mounting: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)
Mounting: 8 × 10 in. (20.3 × 25.4 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Estate of Lester and Betty Guttman
Collections
Object number2014.238
Status
Not on viewBarbara Crane’s formative photographic years were spent at the IIT Institute of Design, the former New Bauhaus, under the tutelage of Aaron Siskind. As a result, her practice is marked by material and formal experimentation. In her series Chicago Loop (1976-1978), abstraction meets figuration as she renders Chicago’s cityscape unfamiliar. Traversing the space of what most resembles a side-lit stage, the pedestrians in this photograph could be anywhere. Removed from the specificity of their city context, they are a graphic band at the bottom of a photographic composition, in which the deep, black backdrop dominates the space. Barely a cityscape, the architecture has disappeared into the depths of extreme tonal contrast, leaving only the pavement visible.
