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
