Polapans
Artist
Kenneth Josephson
(American, born 1932)
Date1973; printed 2001
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 9 1/16 × 9 1/16 inches (23.01 × 23.02 cm)
Sheet: 13 15/16 × 11 inches (35.4 × 27.94 cm)
Sheet: 13 15/16 × 11 inches (35.4 × 27.94 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2008.41.15
SignedSigned on sheet verso, lower left, in pencil: "Kenneth Josephson"
InscribedOn sheet verso, bottom, in pencil: "POLAPANS, 1973/2001";
On sheet verso, bottom, in pencil: 18/50 73-2-10-4".
MarkingsOn sheet verso, top, in pencil: "73-2-10-4 16@11 4 Box L & R H";
On sheet verso, lower right corner, in pencil: "046.092.3.06".
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of light bulb with four Polaroid pictures of the light bulb below.Exhibition HistoryRotation 10. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 19 – September 11, 2011, no cat.
Rotation 24. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, June 9 – November 12, 2017, no cat.
Which of these five images bears the closest resemblance to an actual light bulb?
Four Polaroid prints, taped to a dark surface, depict a bulb exposed with different camera settings to control light. Another light bulb appears to hover above these four prints within the composition. Though we may be tempted to perceive this bulb as more "real" because it exists outside the Polaroid format, it is simply another photographic representation of its subject.
Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2008;
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2008.
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2008.
Copyright© Kenneth Josephson
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