Boulder Dam
Artist
Ben Glaha
(American, 1899 - 1971)
Date1935
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage and sheet: 16 1/4 × 11 1/16 inches (41.28 × 28.1 cm)
Mount (1): 16 1/4 × 11 1/16 inches (41.28 × 28.1 cm)
Mount (2): 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Mount (1): 16 1/4 × 11 1/16 inches (41.28 × 28.1 cm)
Mount (2): 20 × 16 inches (50.8 × 40.64 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Hall Family Foundation
Object number2017.61.14
SignedSigned and dated on image recto, lower right, in black pen: “Ben Glaha 1935”
Inscribednone
MarkingsOn mount 2 verso, lower left, in pencil: “BG-P21”
On View
Not on viewCollections
DescriptionImage of two men wearing climbing harnesses while scaling a steep, nearly vertical dam wall.Exhibition HistoryRotation 26. The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, March 29, 2019- August 25, 2019, no cat.
Ben Glaha’s photograph of Boulder Dam is both a factual document and a modernist exploration of structure and scale. Employed by the Federal Bureau of Reclamation, Ben Glaha recorded all aspects of the dam’s construction. His work combines functional records of labor and engineering details with a bold, semi-abstract sense of form.
Sold at Photographs 6407, Sotheby's New York, NY, April 6, 1993, lot 191, 1993;
with Lee Marks Fine Art, Shelbyville, IN by 2000;
Purchased Lee Marks Fine Art by Howard Stein (1926-2011) , New York, NY, 2000;
Given by Howard Stein to The Joy of Giving Foundation, New York, NY;
Purchased at The Joy of Giving Foundation's sale The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Phillips, New York, NY, April 4, 2017, lot 132 by the Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2017;
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.
with Lee Marks Fine Art, Shelbyville, IN by 2000;
Purchased Lee Marks Fine Art by Howard Stein (1926-2011) , New York, NY, 2000;
Given by Howard Stein to The Joy of Giving Foundation, New York, NY;
Purchased at The Joy of Giving Foundation's sale The Odyssey of Collecting: Photographs from Joy of Giving Something, Phillips, New York, NY, April 4, 2017, lot 132 by the Hall Family Foundation, Kansas City, MO, 2017;
Given by the Hall Family Foundation to The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 2017.
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