PHOTOGRAPHS
Meatyard, Ralph Eugene
U.S. (1925 - 1972)
Romance of Ambrose Bierce No. 3
1964, printed 1974
Gelatin silver print
6 11/16 x 6 15/16 in. (17 x 17.6 cm) image and sheet size; 15 x 12 in. (38.1 x 30.5 cm) mount board size
Monsen Study Collection of Photography, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen
FA 84.16

Ralph Eugene Meatyard, professionally an optician, considered himself an amateur photographer. His photographs focus on his own environment in the Kentucky area, using his family and friends as subjects. He also incorporated masks, dolls, and dead birds, often juxtaposing them with abandoned buildings and dark settings. His work explores the relationship between life and death, the apparent and vague, and the natural act of seeing versus the act of composing through a camera lens.

Ralph Eugene Meatyard, professionally an optician, considered himself an amateur photographer. His photographs focus on his own environment in the Kentucky area, using his family and friends as subjects. He also incorporated masks, dolls, and dead birds, often juxtaposing them with abandoned buildings and dark settings. His work explores the relationship between life and death, the apparent and vague, and the natural act of seeing versus the act of composing through a camera lens. -- Label copy for 150 Works of Art, October 1, 2005 to February 26, 2006.