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Artist/Maker
Ray Mortenson
(American, born 1944)
Date1984
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 6 3/16 × 9 5/16 in. (15.7 × 23.7 cm)
Sheet: 9 1/2 × 12 5/8 in. (24.1 × 32.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Thomas J. Wilson and Jill M. Garling, P2016
Object number2021.12.241
Not on view
DescriptionIn the mid-1970s, an economic downturn combined with complex social and political pressures caused the gradual decline of the South Bronx. By the 1980s, crime, middle-class exodus, fires, and the lack of public services had taken their toll—little was left standing.
The photographs were intended to present an objective, wide-ranging survey of the devastated urban landscape. Images of crumbling architectural facades and dark, fading interiors suggest both Classical and Romantic approaches to ruin and decline.
On a personal level, the landscape seemed not dissimilar to that of the Meadowlands, disserted, quiet, and visually compelling.
-- Ray Mortenson
SOURCE: https://www.raymortenson.com/south-bronx-info
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Additional Details
Provenance
2021: Hamilton College (Ruth and Elmer Wellin Museum of Art), by gift of Thomas J. Wilson and Jill M. Garling.
Signature
Signed "Ray Mortenson 1984" on verso bottom right in pencil
Inscribed
"Rm-211.2" on verso top left in pencil
"8-01-84-2-4" on verso bottom left in pencil
"8-01-84-2-4" on verso bottom left in pencil
Ray Mortenson
Date: c. 1984
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2020.9.159
Ray Mortenson
Date: 1983
Medium: Gelatin silver print
Object number: 2021.12.240
Meryl Meisler
Date: June 1978 (printed 2021)
Medium: Archival inkjet print
Object number: 2021.9.3
Spencer Finch
Date: 2018
Medium: Seven framed archival inkjet photographs
Object number: 2019.9.a-g
Xaviera Simmons
Date: 2014 (printed 2018)
Medium: Archival inkjet print
Object number: 2018.9.4
Jamea Richmond-Edwards
Date: 2018
Medium: Pigment print with silkscreen diamond dust and gold foil
Object number: 2020.1
Unknown artist, Roman (Ancient)
Date: c. 4th century CE
Medium: Blown glass with trailing
Object number: 1929.107