COLLECTION NAME:
The AMICA Library
mediaCollectionId
AMICO~1~1
The AMICA Library
Collection
true
AMICA ID:
CMA_.1989.411
amicoid
CMA_.1989.411
AMICA ID
false
AMICA Library Year:
1998
aly
1998
AMICA Library Year
false
Object Type:
Photographs
oty
Photographs
Object Type
false
Creator Name:
Christenberry, William
crn
Christenberry, William
Creator Name
false
Creator Nationality:
North American; American
crc
North American; American
Creator Nationality
false
Creator Role:
artist
crr
artist
Creator Role
false
Creator Dates/Places:
1936
cdt
1936
Creator Dates/Places
false
Biography:
William Christenberry American, 1936-William Christenberry investigates the land, structures, and symbols of his native Alabama. Since 1968 he has made annual sojourns to Hale County and its environs to photograph the abandoned buildings, rusted signs, kudzu-infested fields, gourd trees, old warehouses, and white country churches that inform and inspire his art. The imagery pervades his paintings, sculpture, drawings, building constructions, and installations and collectively constitutes a vernacular of symbols and signs. Memory and myth fuel Christenberry's obsessive desire to reveal and understand his roots on both personal and universal levels. At the University of Alabama (B.F.A. in painting, 1958; M.A., 1959) Christenberry studied the works of the abstract expressionists, dadaists, and surrealists and read widely. The 1941 book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans had a profound impact on Christenberry when he came across it in 1960. As he would discover the following year when he met Evans in New York City, they had photographed many of the same Alabama subjects and shared many of the same interests and artistic concerns. The two became close friends. Born in Tuscaloosa, Christenberry had begun taking pictures with a simple Brownie camera in 1958 as color studies for his paintings. In 1961, at the encouragement of Evans, he started to consider these snapshots as serious photographs. He purchased an 8 x 10-inch Deardorff view camera in 1977 at the suggestion of friends Caldecot Chubb and Lee Friedlander and, in 1978, began to work intermittently with a Polaroid camera. Christenberry's honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1976) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1984), a LyndhurstFoundation prize (1982), and an honorary doctorate of arts from the Kansas City Art Institute (1983). Since 1968 he has taught painting and drawing at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., receiving numerous awards for his contributions as an educator. Among Christenberry's major exhibitions are the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1973), Institute of the Arts, Rice University (1982), Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth (1990), Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover (1994), and the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson (1996). His publications include William Christenberry (1973), William Christenberry: Southern Photographs (1983), Of Time and Place: Walker Evans and William Christenberry (1990), William Christenberry(1994), William Christenberry: The Early Works, 1954 to 1968 (1996), and Christenberry: Reconstruction, the Art of William Christenberry (1996). Christenberry lives in Washington, D.C. A.W.
crb
William Christenberry American, 1936-William Christenberry investigates the land, structures, and symbols of his native Alabama. Since 1968 he has made annual sojourns to Hale County and its environs to photograph the abandoned buildings, rusted signs, kudzu-infested fields, gourd trees, old warehouses, and white country churches that inform and inspire his art. The imagery pervades his paintings, sculpture, drawings, building constructions, and installations and collectively constitutes a vernacular of symbols and signs. Memory and myth fuel Christenberry's obsessive desire to reveal and understand his roots on both personal and universal levels. At the University of Alabama (B.F.A. in painting, 1958; M.A., 1959) Christenberry studied the works of the abstract expressionists, dadaists, and surrealists and read widely. The 1941 book Let Us Now Praise Famous Men by James Agee and Walker Evans had a profound impact on Christenberry when he came across it in 1960. As he would discover the following year when he met Evans in New York City, they had photographed many of the same Alabama subjects and shared many of the same interests and artistic concerns. The two became close friends. Born in Tuscaloosa, Christenberry had begun taking pictures with a simple Brownie camera in 1958 as color studies for his paintings. In 1961, at the encouragement of Evans, he started to consider these snapshots as serious photographs. He purchased an 8 x 10-inch Deardorff view camera in 1977 at the suggestion of friends Caldecot Chubb and Lee Friedlander and, in 1978, began to work intermittently with a Polaroid camera. Christenberry's honors include fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts (1976) and the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation (1984), a LyndhurstFoundation prize (1982), and an honorary doctorate of arts from the Kansas City Art Institute (1983). Since 1968 he has taught painting and drawing at the Corcoran School of Art in Washington, D.C., receiving numerous awards for his contributions as an educator. Among Christenberry's major exhibitions are the Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (1973), Institute of the Arts, Rice University (1982), Amon Carter Museum, Fort Worth (1990), Addison Gallery of American Art, Phillips Academy, Andover (1994), and the Center for Creative Photography, Tucson (1996). His publications include William Christenberry (1973), William Christenberry: Southern Photographs (1983), Of Time and Place: Walker Evans and William Christenberry (1990), William Christenberry(1994), William Christenberry: The Early Works, 1954 to 1968 (1996), and Christenberry: Reconstruction, the Art of William Christenberry (1996). Christenberry lives in Washington, D.C. A.W.
Biography
false
Gender:
M
cgn
M
Gender
false
Creator Name-CRT:
William Christenberry
crt
William Christenberry
Creator Name-CRT
false
Title:
House and Car, near Akron, Alabama
otn
House and Car, near Akron, Alabama
Title
false
Title Type:
Primary
ott
Primary
Title Type
false
View:
Full View
rid
Full View
View
false
Creation Date:
1981
oct
1981
Creation Date
false
Creation Start Date:
1981
ocs
1981
Creation Start Date
false
Creation End Date:
1981
oce
1981
Creation End Date
false
Materials and Techniques:
chromogenic process color print (Ektacolor)
omd
chromogenic process color print (Ektacolor)
Materials and Techniques
false
Classification Term:
Photography
clt
Photography
Classification Term
false
Dimensions:
Sheet: 49.7cm x 60.9cm, Image: 44.3cm x 56cm
met
Sheet: 49.7cm x 60.9cm, Image: 44.3cm x 56cm
Dimensions
false
AMICA Contributor:
The Cleveland Museum of Art
oon
The Cleveland Museum of Art
AMICA Contributor
false
Owner Location:
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
oop
Cleveland, Ohio, USA
Owner Location
false
ID Number:
1989.411
ooa
1989.411
ID Number
false
Credit Line:
Purchased with a grant from the NEA and matched by contributions from Museum members in 1989
ooc
Purchased with a grant from the NEA and matched by contributions from Museum members in 1989
Credit Line
false
Inscriptions:
Written in black ink on verso: "House and Car, near Akron, Alabama, 1981 printed 1985 Christenberry [signed]"
oin
Written in black ink on verso: "House and Car, near Akron, Alabama, 1981 printed 1985 Christenberry [signed]"
Inscriptions
false
Rights:
orl
<a href="http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html"target="_new">http://www.clemusart.com/museum/disclaim2.html</a>
Rights
false
Related Image Identifier Link:
CMA_.1989.411.tif
ril
CMA_.1989.411.tif
Related Image Identifier Link
false