PHOTOGRAPHS
Connor, Linda S.
U.S. (1944 - )
Untitled
1973
Gelatin printing-out paper print
8 x 9 7/8 in. (20.3 x 25.1 cm) image and sheet size
Monsen Study Collection of Photography, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen
FA 79.58

Connor’s work is bound by a strong thread of formal structure. Here she balances the triangle of the stairs and their shadow with the plant in the foreground to create an image of dissolving shapes and abstracted forms. In 1973 Connor inherited an old 8 x 10 view camera with a special soft-focus portrait lens, which prompted her to begin a series of soft-focus landscapes. These are reminiscent particularly of Clarence White’s work of the early 1900s. As Connor’s personal vision developed, she opened the lens to its maximum aperture and selectively focused her subjects.

Born in 1944, Linda Connor is a self-professed romantic. Her early work consisted of photographs of dresser tops of elderly women in a convalescent home. These women had constructed still lives of their past: photographs of loved ones long gone, or snapshots of themselves in their youth. Her later collages included old photographs within photographs. When she uses a view camera, she exploits unexpected lighting effects captured by a large negative. She often prints her images using sunlight and then gold tones them to achieve a rich, reddish-brown hue reminiscent of nineteenth-century photography. Connor is known for her images of ancient and sacred places that explore the relationship between nature, civilization, and spirituality. She has photographed extensively in the American Southwest, as well as in Asia and the Middle East.-- Label copy for 150 Works of Art, October 1, 2005 to February 26, 2006.