1959/1974

(Center for Photographic Studies, Portfolio 3)

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

Edition of 130

Credit stamp, verso

6.75 x 6.75 inches, image
15 x 12 inches, mount

Contact gallery for price.

“This photograph is found in the portrait section of the Time-Life publication Photographing children (1971) and is described as a ‘direct view’. It is anything but. The ‘Rebuilding’ of the title may refer either to the continuing reconstruction of the post-Civil War South or to the current turmoil of integration in that region. The expensive Arcadian wallpaper of this decrepit mansion no doubt signifies the aristocratic, ruined Confederacy. The damaged doll perhaps symbolizes the previous tenants who were forced to rejoin the Union (or, in this case, to form a union with the boy who stands in for the North). The boy possibly also signifies America’s youth or, given Meatyard’s cynicism, its ignorance.”

—Judith Keller, Ralph Eugene Meatyard (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002), pp. 38-39

Work by Ralph Eugene Meatyard (1925-1972)