Goodyear #5, Niagara Falls, New York

John Pfahl, Goodyear #5, Niagara Falls, New York, 1989, chromogenic print, sheet: 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61.0 cm.), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Gift of the Consolidated Natural Gas Company Foundation, 1991.27.3, © 1989, John Pfahl

Artwork Details

Title: Goodyear #5, Niagara Falls, New York
Artist: John Pfahl
Date: 1989
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 20 x 24 in. (50.8 x 61.0 cm.)
Copyright: © 1989, John Pfahl
Credit Line: Gift of the Consolidated Natural Gas Company Foundation
Mediums Description: chromogenic print
Classifications: Photography
Photoprint
Subjects: Landscape — New York — Niagara Falls
Architecture — industry — power plant
Architecture — industry — Goodyear #5
Object Number: 1991.27.3
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1991.27.3

Artwork Description

John Pfahl’s photographs embody the conflict between progress and preservation. Throughout the 1980s he focused on oil refineries and power plants. He chose sites strategically based on their location in picturesque settings, where he observed a “transcendental” connection between industry and nature. Goodyear #5 complicates popular notions of power plants by revealing an uncommonly beautiful view of a sometimes controversial structure.

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