PHOTOGRAPHS
Nixon, Nicholas
U.S. (1947 - )
View of the Massachusetts Turnpike Entrance, Boston
1976
Gelatin silver 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 92.25

Nicholas Nixon’s early career as an architectural photographer in the 1970s trained his eye to focus on detail and architectonic use of space. Most well known for his intimate images of human relationships, Nixon also photographs landscapes like this one of the Boston Turnpike near his home.

“Among Nicholas Nixon's best known photo series are The Brown Sisters, People with Aids, School, and Pictures of People--series which show us again and again why his work with the slow, contemplative large format camera surprises and enthralls viewers. It is because the results are more than portraiture; large-format has never been used in quite the way Nixon uses it. Technically, his photos are always thrillingly composed and lovingly detailed. Emotionally, his photos inhabit a world somewhere between the action click and the thoughtful composition, capturing fleeting but meaningful moments. His subjects' expressions combine a buoyant hopefulness with an ominous cognizance of human frailty. These qualities are what give his photographs their poignancy.” - New York Institute of Photography, http://www.nyip.com/tips/topic_spotlight0900.html -- Label copy for 150 Works of Art, October 1, 2005 to February 26, 2006.