Accession Number
2013/2.298

Title
Interior, Provincetown

Artist(s)
Joel Meyerowitz

Artist Nationality
American (North American)

Object Creation Date
1977

Medium & Support
dye-transfer print on paper

Dimensions
15 1/4 in x 19 1/8 in (38.74 cm x 48.58 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Maxine and Lawrence K. Snider

Label copy
Both Joanne Leonard and Joel Meyerowitz use mirrors and windows to expand our perspective on domestic spaces. An active feminist in the early 1970s, Leonard was keenly aware of shifting expectations of women's and men's social roles, especially as they played out in the family home. In these two photographs she explores the power dynamics of looking by depicting a nude man in the private acts of grooming and sleeping - activities historically found in images of nude women made by male artists.

Meyerowitz, too, focuses on the domestic sphere in his photographs, many of which were made in the beachside resort town of Provincetown, Massachusetts, on the northern tip of Cape Cod. His studies of the subtle variations of light and color on Cape Cod are some of the first uses of color photography outisde of the advertising industry. This image depicts Meyerowitz's upstairs bedroom. In it, an antique standing mirror and the light streaming in from the adjacent window conjure up an air of quiet nostalgia.

Subject matter
This photograph of an interior of a room stages a play of reflections on various glass and mirror surfaces. Bright light, diffused through and modulated by flower-patterned curtains, streams from the window on the wall to the right. Views of billowing curtains from various angles are reflected in two mirrors--one hanging and one standing--at the far end of the room, and the glass top of a chest of drawers in the foreground. The result is a proliferation of patterns across the surfaces of the interior, as the flower print of the curtains mingle with the bright red, pink, orange, and yellow articles of clothing, towels, and carpets throughout the room.

Physical Description
Photograph of an interior view of a room. On the right side of the image is a wicker dresser with folded clothing and a full length wooden oval mirror standing next to the far wall. The window on the right has a long floral curtain.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If 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
bedrooms
furniture
interior spaces (spaces by location)
mirrors