Parícutin Volcano Project

Accession Number
2008/2.233

Title
Parícutin Volcano Project

Artist(s)
Peter Hutchinson

Artist Nationality
British (modern)

Object Creation Date
1970

Medium & Support
photographs on cardboard

Dimensions
32 1/16 in x 20 in (81.44 cm x 50.8 cm)

Credit Line
The Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection: Fifty Works for Fifty States, a joint initiative of the Trustees of the Dorothy and Herbert Vogel Collection and the Nation Gallery of Art, with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Institute for Museum and Library Services

Label copy
Peter Hutchinson
United Kingdom, born 1930
Paricutin Volcano Project
1970
Photographs on cardboard
2008/2.233

Subject matter
Hutchinson’s project at Parícutin consisted of throwing 450 pounds of bread crumbs onto the edge of the volcano’s mouth. He then covered it in plastic for six days for the steam and heat to begin to grow mold, which is visible in these images as a faint smudge of white on the otherwise dark mountainside. Parícutin volcano is located about 200 miles west of Mexico City and its eruption from 1943 to 1952 marked the first time scientists were able to observe the complete life cycle of a volcano, from birth to extinction, and greatly expanded our understanding of volcanism. The idea behind the project, he said, was to “juxtapose a microorganism against a macrocosmic landscape.” 

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Primary Object Type
landscape

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
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Keywords
Conceptual
bread
documentary photography
earthworks (sculpture)
mold (condition)
photographs
volcanoes

& Author Notes

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