Accession Number2003/1.379
TitleSmile For Your Lover Comes (Stone Ridge, New York)
Artist(s)John DugdaleArtist NationalityAmerican (North American)Object Creation Date2000Medium & Supportcyanotype on paperDimensions 15 1/4 in x 13 5/16 in x 2 1/4 in (38.74 cm x 33.81 cm x 5.72 cm);15 1/4 in x 13 5/16 in x 2 1/4 in (38.74 cm x 33.81 cm x 5.72 cm)
Credit LineMuseum Purchase made possible by the Harry Denham TrustLabel copyMarch 28, 2009
My photographic vision is clearer now than when I could see.
—John Dugdale
John Dugdale lost all but a small portion of his peripheral vision due to complications from AIDS. Previously a successful commercial photographer, he now shoots mostly around his home in upstate New York with a large format camera from 1912. Using sunlight, Dugdale contact-prints the 8 x 10 negatives onto photosensitive paper coated in a solution of iron—the source of the ethereal blue that lends an aura of time fleeting and eternal. The large-scale process enables him to communicate his unique vision. “I’m not flooded with images,” he says. “I think it leaves me with a clearer slate to imagine my pictures on…They start as a thought instead of something that I see.” The frame is his design as well.
Subject matterPartially blinded after two AIDS-related strokes in 1993, Dugdale turned from a career in commercial photography to fine art photography. He uses antique photographic techniques such as cyanotype, platinum, and albumen processes to print the negatives he makes with a large format camera from 1912. To set up his photographs, he relies mostly on touch, imagining his images before he creates them.
Physical DescriptionA photograph depicting a man sitting nude on a porch rail with his back turned toward the camera. Bright light filters through leaves on a nearby tree.
Primary Object ClassificationPhotographCollection AreaPhotographyRightsIf you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit
http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.
Keywords
New York
balustrades
flora (plants)
grape vines
lovers
males
men (male humans)
nudes
nudes (representations)
porches
railing
seated
sitting
smile
sunlight