Ralph Eugene Meatyard

American, 1925–1972

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New York

Edition: 130
Size Notes: 15 x 12 inches, mount
6.5 x 7 inches, image
Movement: Post-War
Literature: “Madelyn Meatyard was an indulgent model. The role her husband usually chose for her was that of mother, posing with one or more of her three children. Here, he stations her before an arched window. The pious atmosphere created by this framing is contradicted by Madelyn’s everyday dress and by the dilapidated Venetian blinds behind her. Unlike a traditional religious icon, this Madonna gazes sternly into space, while her small child stands facing the maternal loins from which she sprang. Many photographers prior to Meatyard—such as Alfred Stieglitz, Edwards Weston and Harry Callahan—had produced series based on their beguiling wives.”
—Judith Keller, Ralph Eugene Meatyard (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002), pp. 86-87

From a portfolio of ten gelatin silver prints from original Meatyard negatives (1959-71); Printed April 1974