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Mother Castro, Crownsville, Maine

A work made of gelatin silver print.

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  • A work made of gelatin silver print.

Date:

1949, printed June 1951

Artist:

Photographer unknown

About this artwork

After George Eastman introduced the handheld Kodak #1 camera in 1888, amateurs made millions of snapshots depicting friends and family, travels, and festive occasions such as weddings. Even while solidifying such thoroughly conventional behaviors, amateur photography developed a new pictorial language that privileged immediacy, spontaneity, and accident. Career photographers and art historians—but also antiques vendors and flea-market shoppers—have long recognized the value of the “snapshot aesthetic.” The rise of social media and smartphones in recent years has effectively ended the era of the snapshot as both a printed photograph and an image for a private audience.

Status

Currently Off View

Department

Photography and Media

Artist

Unknown Maker

Title

Mother Castro, Crownsville, Maine

Place

Maine (Object made in)

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 1949

Medium

Gelatin silver print

Dimensions

Image: 6.1 × 10.5 cm (2 7/16 × 4 3/16 in.); Paper: 7.7 × 12.1 cm (3 1/16 × 4 13/16 in.)

Credit Line

Gift of Peter J. Cohen

Reference Number

2013.158.131

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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