Accident, New York City

Artist Louis Faurer (American, 1916 - 2001)

Date1952; printed 1990

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 8 11/16 × 13 1/8 inches (22.07 × 33.34 cm)
Sheet: 10 7/8 × 13 7/8 inches (27.62 × 35.24 cm)

Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation

Object number2016.75.68

SignedSigned on sheet recto, lower right, in black pen: “Louis Faurer”; Signed on sheet verso, center, in pencil: “© Louis Faurer”.

InscribedTitled and dated on sheet recto, lower left, in black pen: “N.Y.C. 1952”; Titled and dated on sheet verso, center, in pencil: “Accident / NYC. 1952"

MarkingsEditioned on sheet verso, lower right, in pencil: “16/20”; On sheet verso, bottom, in pencil: “(OLD PF98492-222)”, “PRINTED 1990”, “<0054-ACMS-JB> PF101609”.

Edition/State/Proofed. 16/20

On View

Not on view

Collections

Photography

Terms

DescriptionDouble exposure of young boy shivering while turning away from a traffic accident with a chalk outline on the street; he looks towards an image of a wedding party which appears on the far right portion of the frame.Gallery Label

Gallery Label

A young man stands hunched on a city street. Behind him, a chalk outline records the position of a deceased pedestrian; on the right is a wedding party. This mysterious, ghostly photograph was the result of a technical error—Louis Faurer accidentally ran his roll of 35mm film through the camera twice. While unplanned, the final image results in a unique expression of the chaotic experience of crowded cities and overlapping lives. The title, Accident, references the image’s creation, the deadly incident represented by the chalk outline, and perhaps even the wedding.

Provenance

Purchased from Howard Greenberg Gallery, New York, NY by The Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2016;
Their gift to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2016.

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