Getty Museum
Tools with Blueprint
Creator
Paul OuterbridgeAmerican Photographer · 1896–1958
All works by this person →> Art is life seen through man's inner craving for perfection and beauty--his escape from the sordid realities of life into a world of his imagining. Art accounts for at least a third of our civilization, and it is one of the artist's principal duties to do more than merely record life or nature. To the artist is given the privilege of pointing the way and inspiring towards a better life. > > --Pa
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1939
- Medium
- Carbro print
- Culture
- American
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
Paul Outerbridge actually used a picture of a picture in this composition that includes a house under construction, tools, and a blueprint. Partly framed by two-by-fours, the picture of the home on the left creates the illusion of a window opening onto a pleasant suburban neighborhood. The vertical and horizontal two-by-fours convey a sense of strength, suggesting the solid security of a well built home. He probably made this image as an advertisement for a construction company. In the 1930s, the most practical way to create quality color photographs like this was by employing the carbro color process. This method is extremely labor intensive, requiring patience and precision. Outerbridge consistently and expertly employed this technique. As a result, the colors in his photographs are as descriptive today as they were sixty years ago.
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