Ghost #4
Artist
Darryl Curran
(American, 1935)
DateLate 1970s
MediumVan Dyke print
Dimensions22 x 15 in.
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of Darryl Curran in memory of Carole Briant, 2020
Object number2021.1.1
DescriptionVertical composition in tones of brown showing a seascape with craggy rocks at right and a glimpse of the back of a person’s head and right shoulder in extreme foreground at lower left. Above is a vertical snap-shot, double-exposed to show the upper body and head of a man (or statue?) superimposed on a view of a child walking on a path in a garden or yard.eMuseum Notes
The image “Ghosts” is typical of Darryl Curran’s work in its layering of images and use of the historic, monochromatic Van Dyke printing process. The incomplete glimpses we get of the subjects suggest the artist’s intention isn’t documentary but capturing a feeling or experience. Techniques like movement and multiple-exposure remove this picture from our everyday reality and the deep brown color lends a further aura of nostalgia. “Ghosts” are easily found in any photo album, since photographs preserve the images of people long gone, but this picture seems to be more about the ghosts of memory we carry around inside our heads.
On View
Not on view
