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Girl's blonde hair

Photograph
1971 (photographed), 2014 (Printed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Mark Cohen was born in 1943 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he continued to live and work until recently moving to Philadelphia. His work was first exhibited at George Eastman House in 1969 and he had his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1973. He won Guggenheim Fellowships in 1971 and 1976 and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1976. In 2013 his retrospective Dark Knees was shown at Le Bal, Paris and the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam. Best known for his work in black and white, he also made a foray into colour with a series of dye-transfer prints in the 1970s.

Cohen literally shoots from the hip. He eschews the viewfinder and uses a wide-angle lens to a present a raw and fragmented vision of the working-class town of Wilkes-Barre. Blasts of flash add drama and a sense of movement. Cohen’s photographs share some features with the American street photographers who preceded him, such Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and Diane Arbus, as well as earlier masters such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, but his surrealist sensibility, at once elegant and off-kilter, humorous and slightly creepy, is his alone.


Object details

Category
Object type
TitleGirl's blonde hair (assigned by artist)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin silver print, printed by the photographer from the 1970's negatives
Brief description
Photograph by Mark Cohen, 'Girl's blonde hair', Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, 1971, gelatin silver print. Printed in 2014 by the photographer from 1970’s negatives
Physical description
Black and white photograph depicting two girls, sitting on the side of the street, from above. The girl in the foreground is blonde and wears a dark jumper, whilst the girl in the background is brunette. Their faces are not visible.
Dimensions
  • Paper height: 405mm
  • Paper width: 493mm
  • Image height: 307mm
  • Image width: 450mm
Style
Marks and inscriptions
Inscribed on verso with artist's signature, title and date of image
Credit line
Purchase funded by the Photographs Acquisition Group
Subjects depicted
Places depicted
Summary
Mark Cohen was born in 1943 in Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, where he continued to live and work until recently moving to Philadelphia. His work was first exhibited at George Eastman House in 1969 and he had his first solo exhibition at the Museum of Modern Art in 1973. He won Guggenheim Fellowships in 1971 and 1976 and a National Endowment for the Arts Fellowship in 1976. In 2013 his retrospective Dark Knees was shown at Le Bal, Paris and the Nederlands Fotomuseum, Rotterdam. Best known for his work in black and white, he also made a foray into colour with a series of dye-transfer prints in the 1970s.

Cohen literally shoots from the hip. He eschews the viewfinder and uses a wide-angle lens to a present a raw and fragmented vision of the working-class town of Wilkes-Barre. Blasts of flash add drama and a sense of movement. Cohen’s photographs share some features with the American street photographers who preceded him, such Garry Winogrand, Lee Friedlander and Diane Arbus, as well as earlier masters such as Henri Cartier-Bresson and Robert Frank, but his surrealist sensibility, at once elegant and off-kilter, humorous and slightly creepy, is his alone.
Collection
Accession number
E.668-2016

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Record createdFebruary 10, 2016
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