Larry Sultan returned to his parents’ home as an adult, camera in hand, to explore his past. Compiling “found” photographs — snapshots and portraits his parents collected in scrapbooks or frames printed from old home movies — with his own images, he created a narrative of their life in the postwar California suburbs. This portrait of his father is simultaneously affectionate and awkward. It shows the respect of a son for his father, as well as his father’s frustration; a corporate executive with Schick who was forced into early retirement, he now finds himself quite literally all dressed up with nowhere to go.
Close to Home: Photographers and their Families, 2011
Close to Home: Photographers and their Families, 2011
- Title
-
Dad on the Bed, from the series Pictures from Home
- Artist
- Date
- 1984
- Location
- Not on view
- Dimensions
- 36 x 30 in. (91.4 x 76.2 cm)
- Copyright
-
© 1984, Larry Sultan
- Credit Line
-
Smithsonian American Art Museum
Museum purchase through the Luisita L. and Franz H. Denghausen Endowment
- Mediums Description
- chromogenic print
- Classifications
- Keywords
-
- Architecture Interior – domestic – bedroom
- Object Number
-
2010.17.1
- Palette
- Linked Open Data
- Linked Open Data URI
