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The Brown Sisters, New Canaan, Connecticut

Photograph
1975 (photographed)
Artist/Maker
Place of origin

Nixon has been photographing the sisters once a year, in roughly the same pose for almost thirty years, beginning in 1975. Nixon has used a large format, 10"x8" negative plate camera to photograph, which gives maximum clarity in the printed image because of the size of the negative from which it is made. The series maps their shared and also individual passage of time and developing womanhood. One of the sisters, Bebe, is married to Nixon and a query for the viewer that this series raises is whether you can tell, by the manners by which these women face the camera, which one is his wife.


Object details

Categories
Object type
Titles
  • The Brown Sisters, New Canaan, Connecticut (assigned by artist)
  • The Brown Sisters (series title)
Materials and techniques
Gelatin-silver print (contact print made from 10 x 8 inch negatives)
Brief description
Photograph by Nicholas Nixon, 'The Brown Sisters, New Canaan, Connecticut', from the series entitled 'The Brown Sisters', gelatin-silver print, USA, 1975
Physical description
Black and white photograph of four young women shown looking towards the camera.
Dimensions
  • Height: 20.3cm
  • Width: 25.4cm
Dimensions taken from Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1990
Marks and inscriptions
  • 'Nicholas Nixon' (Signed in pencil on the back)
  • (Inscribed with title and date)
  • '57/60 NN 16794' (Numbered)
Subjects depicted
Summary
Nixon has been photographing the sisters once a year, in roughly the same pose for almost thirty years, beginning in 1975. Nixon has used a large format, 10"x8" negative plate camera to photograph, which gives maximum clarity in the printed image because of the size of the negative from which it is made. The series maps their shared and also individual passage of time and developing womanhood. One of the sisters, Bebe, is married to Nixon and a query for the viewer that this series raises is whether you can tell, by the manners by which these women face the camera, which one is his wife.
Bibliographic references
  • Haworth-Booth, Mark. Photography Now. London: Dirk Nishen, in association with the Victoria & Albert Museum, 1989. ISBN: 185378012X. p.54-59
  • Victoria and Albert Museum Department of Prints, Drawings and Paintings Accession Register for 1990
Collection
Accession number
E.2709-1990

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Record createdFebruary 23, 2009
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