July 4^th Celebration, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY

Robert K. Hower, July 4th Celebration, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY, 1976, gelatin silver print, sheet: 14 × 10 ⁷⁄₈ in. (35.5 × 27.6 cm) image: 13 ³⁄₄ × 8 ⁵⁄₈ in. (34.9 × 21.9 cm), Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts, 1983.63.786, ©1976, Robert K. Hower

Artwork Details

Title: July 4^th Celebration, Louisville, Jefferson County, KY
Artist: Robert K. Hower
Date: 1976
Location: Not on view
Dimensions: sheet: 14 × 10 ⁷⁄₈ in. (35.5 × 27.6 cm) image: 13 ³⁄₄ × 8 ⁵⁄₈ in. (34.9 × 21.9 cm)
Copyright: ©1976, Robert K. Hower
Credit Line: Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts
Mediums Description: gelatin silver print
Classifications: Photography
Photoprint
Subjects: Architecture — vehicle — automobile
Figure group — male
Architecture Exterior — other — parking lot
Cityscape — Kentucky — Louisville
Ceremony — other — fireworks
Ceremony — holiday — Fourth of July
Object Number: 1983.63.786
Linked Open Data: https://edan.si.edu/saam/id/object/1983.63.786

Artwork Description

Smoke fills the air as fireworks stream down on a Louisville parking lot. Nearby, a group of men huddle around the engine of a wrecked race car, unaware of the festivities surrounding them. Marking the nation’s bicentennial in 1976, Robert Hower juxtaposed two distinctly American traditions: Fourth of July fireworks and automobiles. Hower participated in a photographic survey of Kentucky sponsored by the National Endowment of the Arts, which was intended to commemorate this landmark event in U.S. history. A wide range of people posed for his camera, many in front of their homes and with their families, in rural areas of the state that most viewers would otherwise never see.

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