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Catalog Data

Artist:
Joe Deal, born Topeka, KS 1947-died Providence, RI 2010  Search this
Medium:
gelatin silver print
Dimensions:
sheet: 13 3/4 x 13 3/4 in. (35.0 x 35.0 cm.)
Type:
Photography-Photoprint
Date:
1980
Exhibition Label:
In Back Yard, Diamond Bar, CA, brick walls converge at sharp angles to clearly define a residential lot cut out of a hillside. Joe Deal’s elevated camera focuses on a single property, while beyond the house, shingled rooftops cut off any view of the sky. Just twenty-four years before Deal arrived, the land that is now the city of Diamond Bar was untouched pasture for grazing cattle. By 1980 the land had been transformed into a sprawling network of suburban communities, strip malls, and parking lots. Deal chose to document the new suburban city because it epitomized the radical development of Southern California. His goal was to remain a neutral observer and describe without “personal interference” the landscape before his camera. His views of newly constructed homes present a brief moment in the rapid evolution of Los Angeles.
A Democracy of Images: Photographs from the Smithsonian American Art Museum, 2013
Topic:
Landscape\garden  Search this
Cityscape\California\Los Angeles  Search this
Cityscape\California\Diamond Bar  Search this
Architecture Exterior\domestic\house  Search this
Credit Line:
Smithsonian American Art Museum, Transfer from the National Endowment for the Arts through the Photography Museum of Los Angeles
Copyright:
© 1980, Joe Deal
Object number:
1990.38.27
Restrictions & Rights:
Usage conditions apply
See more items in:
Smithsonian American Art Museum Collection
Department:
Graphic Arts
Data Source:
Smithsonian American Art Museum
GUID:
http://n2t.net/ark:/65665/vk73f42fbd3-1449-49d1-85e1-e33d3baff271
EDAN-URL:
edanmdm:saam_1990.38.27