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Self-Portrait, Vertical Motion Down, Medium

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

1974

Artist:

Blythe Bohnen
American, 1940-2022

About this artwork

A native of Evanston, Illinois, Blythe Bohnen completed her Masters of Fine Arts at Hunter College in New York in 1972, and was a founding member of A.I.R. Gallery, a women’s cooperative arts organization. She became known for paintings and drawings that engaged deeply with the physical gesture as artistic expression, often accompanied by precise verbal summaries of particular motions used to accomplish the work. She first began using a camera to photograph her hand and arm in the systematic process of mark-making, capturing motion through time to record the gesture as a shape. In a series of self-portraits, such as the one here, Bohnen expanded on those initial themes to make her own body the work itself, moving her head in different ways during an exposure of several seconds to produce a blurred trail.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Blythe Bohnen

Title

Self-Portrait, Vertical Motion Down, Medium

Place

United States (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

Made 1974

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image: 38 × 47.8 cm (15 × 18 7/8 in.); Paper: 40.5 × 0.4 cm (16 × 3/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Herbert and Paula Molner

Reference Number

1992.796

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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