The Brown Sisters, Boston, Massachusetts

Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters, Boston, Massachusetts, 2012, gelatin silver print, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Nion McEvoy in memory of Nan Tucker McEvoy, 2015.33.38, © Nicholas Nixon, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Nicholas Nixon, The Brown Sisters, Boston, Massachusetts, 2012, gelatin silver print, image: 7 58 × 9 58 in. (19.4 × 24.4 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of Nion McEvoy in memory of Nan Tucker McEvoy, 2015.33.38, © Nicholas Nixon, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco

Artwork Details

Title
The Brown Sisters, Boston, Massachusetts
Date
2012
Location
Not on view
Dimensions
image: 7 58 × 9 58 in. (19.4 × 24.4 cm)
Copyright
© Nicholas Nixon, courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco
Credit Line
Gift of Nion McEvoy in memory of Nan Tucker McEvoy
Mediums Description
gelatin silver print
Classifications
Subjects
  • Cityscape — Massachusetts — Boston
  • Portrait group — family — siblings
Object Number
2015.33.38

Artwork Description

In 1975, Nicholas Nixon made a photograph of his wife, Bebe, with her three sisters at a Brown family gathering, which became the starting point for one of the most remarkable portrait series of our time. He has continued to photograph the Brown sisters, lined up in the same order, every year since. Working with an eight-by-ten-inch view camera, Nixon contact-prints his negatives directly onto the photographic paper to capture the maximum possible detail.

Technically superb, Nixon's photographs echo the norms of the family snapshot, whose making has become, in his word, "an annual rite of passage" for himself and his subjects alike. Revealing nothing of their identities, Nixon offers instead a meditation on time. The portrait series speak poignantly of the Brown sisters' enduring relatedness, and by extension references that of our own among our families, our communities, and as humans relating to the world.

Works by this artist (483 items)

Paul Manship, Susanna (#1), 1948, marble, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Paul Manship, 1966.47.1
Susanna (#1)
Date1948
marble
On view
Paul Manship, Eve (#1), 1935, bronze, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Paul Manship, 1966.47.6
Eve (#1)
Date1935
bronze
On view
Paul Manship, Model of Flagpole Base, Alfred E. Smith Memorial, n.d., cast posthumously, bronze, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum purchase, 1971.15
Model of Flagpole Base, Alfred E. Smith Memorial
Daten.d., cast posthumously
bronze
On view
Paul Manship, Study for Venus Anadyomene, 1924, bronze on marble base, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Paul Manship, 1966.47.57
Study for Venus Anadyomene
Date1924
bronze on marble base
On view

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Date1982
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Jeff Donaldson, Victory in Zimbabwe, 1980, mixed media on cardboard, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Museum Purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment, 2019.1, © 2018, Estate of Jeff Donaldson
Victory in Zimbabwe
Date1980
mixed media on cardboard
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Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, (Star-shaped structure), pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Martha F. Butler, 1991.56.366
(Star-shaped structure)
pencil on paper
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Miner Kilbourne Kellogg, Tabor, pencil on paper, Smithsonian American Art Museum, Bequest of Martha F. Butler, 1991.56.350A-B
Tabor
pencil on paper
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