Getty Museum
Darkroom Still Life
Creator
Doris UlmannAmerican Photographer · 1882–1934
All works by this person →A New Yorker by birth, Doris Ulmann preserved the rural cultures of the southeastern United States through her photographs. She worked particularly in the "Southern Highlands" of the Appalachian Mountains, creating portraits of the residents. In 1933, she contributed photographs to *Roll, Jordan, Roll*, a book by novelist Julia Peterkin about the vanishing black culture, known as Gullah, of the So
More on Getty ULAN- Date
- 1918
- Medium
- Platinum print
- Culture
- American
- Department
- Photographs
- Institution
- Getty Museum
- Object ID
- 61152cae-0180-407a-8ec7-b526298ad928
This still-life assembly of mortar, pestle, bottles, vial, and developing tray evokes the element of alchemy in photography. These objects immediately refer to the practice of medicine and to its potential power to stimulate the body's regenerative processes. In a related way, photography can be understood as the artist measuring and applying certain powders and liquids to create an image, one with the power to heal the spirit and to nourish and give life to the imagination and the soul. By photographing the tools of her medium in this arrangement, Doris Ulmann made a concise, eloquent statement aligning photography with a fundamental need to enrich life's experience through art.
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