Mishap of Minor Circumstances

Artist Robert Cumming (American, 1943 - 2021)

Date1973

MediumGelatin silver prints

DimensionsImage (each): 7 5/8 × 9 5/8 inches (19.37 × 24.45 cm)
Sheet (each): 7 7/8 × 9 7/8 inches (20 × 25.08 cm)
Mount: 20 × 30 inches (50.8 × 76.2 cm)

Credit LineGift of Hallmark Cards, Inc.

Object number2005.27.4052,4053

SignedSigned on mount recto, lower right, in pencil: "Cumming 1973."; On mount verso, lower left, in pencil: "Lent by Robert CUMMING".

InscribedOn mount recto, lower left, in pencil: "MISHAP OF MINOR CONSEQUENCE."

MarkingsOn mount verso, upper right corner, in pencil: "RC.001"; On mount verso, upper right, in pencil: "103" [circled]; On mount verso, upper left corner, in black pen: "REJECT / ON / MUSEUM / BOARD"; On mount verso, bottom, in pencil: "269-1-91".

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionA Diptych: Images of a bucket, held up with string between two wooden posts, knocking over a chair. The left image is a view from the front, the right image is a view from the side.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

When seen from a distance, these two works appear as stop-action photographs of a bucket and chair caught mid-fall, taken from different vantage points. Looking more closely, however, it is apparent that these are props held up by string. The work is a truthful deception: a document of an illusion that makes no effort to hide its trickery.

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