Images(4)

Ominous Prophecy

Artist Kathleen Campbell (American)

Date1989

MediumDye diffusion transfer print (Polaroid)

Dimensions(a) Left Panel: 60 × 48 × 1 in. (152.4 × 121.9 × 2.5 cm)
(b) Center Panel: 60 × 32 × 1 in. (152.4 × 81.3 × 2.5 cm)
(c) Right Panel: 60 × 48 × 1 in. (152.4 × 121.9 × 2.5 cm)

ClassificationsPhotograph

Credit LineGift of Kathleen Campbell, 2018

Object number2018.19a-c

DescriptionPolaroid prints mounted to backing to create three panels.
(a). Panel one (left) shows figure at center standing in front of painted backdrop with black bird with spread wings, figure is holding sword pointing downward from waist.
(b). Panel two (middle) shows figure of woman at center against painted backdrop with the image of an explosion. She wears a black headdress with black ribbons, a red cloak and has lace around her hands.
(c). Panel three (right) shows a figure against a painted backdrop similar to Michelangelo's "The Creation of Adam"; she is holding an apple in her left hand and her right arm and hand are extended toward the center panel.

eMuseum Notes

Emuseum Notes

In her triptych, (three panels that create one work of art), "Ominous Prophecy", Campbell uses figures from Christianity and art, (Archangel Michael, Madonna, Eve), to warn of the future that awaits us if we fail to control our destructive human impulses.

Emuseum Notes

This set of images was taken in 1989, when Polaroid’s large-format 20 × 24-inch instant camera traveled to Albuquerque to be used by local artists. Here, Campbell poses her subjects based on painted compositions by Piero della Francesca, Jan van Eyck, and Michelangelo. The scale, media, and composite composition were, for the time, a challenge to the traditional restrictions placed on subject matter and presentation format for photography.

On View

Not on view

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