Back Yard, Diamond Bar, CA, from the Los Angeles Documentary Project

Joe Deal, Back Yard, Diamond Bar, CA, from the Los Angeles Documentary Project, 1980, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Photography Museum of Los Angeles, 1990.38.27, © 1980, Joe Deal
Copied Joe Deal, Back Yard, Diamond Bar, CA, from the Los Angeles Documentary Project, 1980, gelatin silver print, sheet: 13 3⁄4 x 13 3⁄4 in. (35.0 x 35.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Photography Museum of Los Angeles, 1990.38.27, © 1980, Joe Deal

Artwork Details

Title
Back Yard, Diamond Bar, CA, from the Los Angeles Documentary Project
Artist
Date
1980
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
sheet: 13 3⁄4 x 13 3⁄4 in. (35.0 x 35.0 cm.)
Copyright
© 1980, Joe Deal
Credit Line
Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Photography Museum of Los Angeles
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Landscape — garden
  • Cityscape — California — Los Angeles
  • Cityscape — California — Diamond Bar
  • Architecture Exterior — domestic — house
Object Number
1990.38.27
Linked Open Data
https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1990.38.27

Artwork Description

In Back Yard, Diamond Bar, CA, brick walls converge at sharp angles to clearly define a residential lot cut out of a hillside. Joe Deal’s elevated camera focuses on a single property, while beyond the house, shingled rooftops cut off any view of the sky. Just twenty-four years before Deal arrived, the land that is now the city of Diamond Bar was untouched pasture for grazing cattle. By 1980 the land had been transformed into a sprawling network of suburban communities, strip malls, and parking lots. Deal chose to document the new suburban city because it epitomized the radical development of Southern California. His goal was to remain a neutral observer and describe without “personal interference” the landscape before his camera. His views of newly constructed homes present a brief moment in the rapid evolution of Los Angeles.


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