Exchange: Conflict and Confrontation

Conflict and Confrontation

This resource includes objects that stand out for their attention to conflict and confrontation, ranging from physical battles to imbalances of power and incarceration. While conflict is most palpable in its physical form, many of these objects beg the viewer to broaden their understanding of what might constitute violence. With violence-- both direct and indirect-- an omnipresent feature of today's world, do these objects offer up new ways of understanding conflict? What "counts" as conflict or confrontation, and why?

A photograph of three tin figures in a shallow plane, set against a black backdrop. The man on the left stands behind a podium, facing the man in the middle, who is chained. The man on the right holds a whip.

David Levinthal
The Slave Market
photogravure on paper
17 11/16 in x 20 7/8 in (44.93 cm x 53.02 cm)
Museum purchase made possible by the Margaret Watson Parker Art Collection Fund

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Boxing match. One man on the mat being counted out by the referree. Winner is standing in the corner.

George Wesley Bellows
Counted Out
lithograph on paper
12 x 13 3/8 in. (30.48 x 33.97 cm)
Dr. Herbert & Doris Sloan

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Two boxers trade punches in a ring with the referee close behind and the crowd cheering. One boxer is pushing the other with his forearm.

George Wesley Bellows
A Stag at Sharkey's
lithograph on paper
24 in x 18 3/4 in (60.96 cm x 47.63 cm)
Bequest of Doris and Herbert Sloan

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A photograph of a group of four young men in football jerseys and casual attire walking down the street. Behind them are two steel rolling doors covered in graffiti.

Danny Lyon
Carlos Leaving the Football Game
gelatin silver print on paper
11 in x 14 in (27.94 cm x 35.56 cm)
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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A group of prisoners all in different states of undress with officers around them. They are trying to put their clothes back on after a shakedown.

Danny Lyon
Convict Shouting During a Shakedown, from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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A man in a uniform looking at the camera against a dark wall. His head is shaved and his arms are outstretched against a railing behind him.

Danny Lyon
Four Years, Burglary, from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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A group of uniformed prisoners in a dining room. Some of the men are seated and eating while others are in line waiting to get their food.

Danny Lyon
Dining Room (Convict Pouring from Pitcher), from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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A man working out in the yard. He is shirtless with a large bar on his shoulders. There are other prisoners in the yard too.

Danny Lyon
The Yard, from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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An officer on top of a horse wearing a white cowboy hat. There is an African-American man standing next to him handing him water.

Danny Lyon
Watering a Boss, from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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Two prisoners in uniform sitting on a wooden bench. Their legs are crossed and they are both looking to the right.

Danny Lyon
Two Convicts, from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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A man with his arms crossed, resting on the horizontal bar of a cell. There are other prisoners behind him.

Danny Lyon
Cell Block (face behind bars, other prisoners behind him), from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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A group of prisoners, naked, standing in a line next to a line of officers. They are in the hallway between the cells.

Danny Lyon
Building Shakedown, from "Conversations with the Dead"
gelatin silver print on paper
11 x 14 in. ( 27.94 x 35.56 cm )
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

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