Albuquerque, New Mexico

Garry Winogrand, Albuquerque, New Mexico, 1958, printed 1974, gelatin silver print, sheet: 8 ⁵⁄₈ x 13 in. (22.0 x 32.9 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1985.36.1, © 1974, Estate of Garry Winogrand

Artwork Details

Title: Albuquerque, New Mexico
Artist: Garry Winogrand
Publisher: Double Elephant Press
Date: 1958, printed 1974
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 8 ⁵⁄₈ x 13 in. (22.0 x 32.9 cm.)
Copyright: © 1974, Estate of Garry Winogrand
Credit Line: Museum purchase
Mediums Description: gelatin silver print
Classifications: Photography
Photoprint
Subjects: Architecture Exterior — domestic — garage
Landscape — New Mexico — Albuquerque
Figure — child
Landscape — desert
Object Number: 1985.36.1
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1985.36.1

Artwork Description

“I photograph the world to see what the world looks like photographed.” – Garry Winogrand, 1974

The street was Garry Winogrand’s playground as he recorded fleeting moments from the busy world around him. A pre-focused hand-held camera allowed Winogrand the freedom to shoot at will, without stopping to consciously compose or frame his subjects. In Albuquerque, New Mexico, Winogrand seized the opportunity to document an odd arrangement of people and objects. An apprehensive toddler, a toppled tricycle, and a mysterious U shape painted on the face of a mountain come together without explanation or narrative. For Winogrand, this photograph is “the illusion of a literal description of how a camera saw a piece of time and space.

A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2013