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PHOTOGRAPHS
White, Clarence H.
U.S. (1871 - 1925)
Drops of Rain
1908
Photogravure
7 5/8 x 6 1/8 in. (19.4 x 15.6 cm) image and sheet size; 8 x 6 3/8 in. (20.3 x 16.2 cm) mount sheet size; 11 7/8 x 8 5/16 in. (30 x 21.1 cm) second mount sheet size
Joseph and Elaine Monsen Photography Collection, gift of Joseph and Elaine Monsen and The Boeing Company
FA 97.192

Clarence H. White was a member of the Photo Secessionist movement. In keeping with the aesthetic principles of the movement, he manipulated light, shade, and transparency to visually flatten photographs to distinguish the abilities of the camera from painting, printmaking, and drawing. In this image the window is translucent and the presumed landscape behind it is limited to shades of grey with no distinctive forms, creating a smooth plane of changing black and white tones. Raindrops appear as two-dimensional dots suspended in the middle ground of the photograph, taking on the smooth texture of the space behind the window. In the foreground, the large glass globe imitates the flat surface of the window behind it. The globe is lit so that there are no shadows cast, only a circle of light tracing its circumference, rendering it two dimensional, also. -- Label copy for Vortexhibition Polyphonica: Opus I, October 3, 2009 to February 9, 2010.

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