#5 from Portrait Series – Schnitzel
Artist
Alex Traube
(American, born 1946)
Date1978
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 8 3/8 × 5 3/4 in. (21.3 × 14.6 cm)
Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Support: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
Mat: 20 × 16 in. (50.8 × 40.6 cm)
Support: 14 × 11 in. (35.6 × 27.9 cm)
ClassificationsPhotograph
Credit LineGift of David R. and Susan J. Hill, 2022
Object number2022.12.1
DescriptionVertical composition with photograph of a scantily clad young woman with prominent eyeliner and short, light-colored hair whose image is somewhat obscured by an enlarged fingerprint. Below the photographic image is text handwritten by artist in black ink: I called her “Schnitzel” because of her thick German accent. She // wanted to come out west with me, but I refused her. She was // there waiting when I returned. Yet, all I could feel during our // last hurried lunch together was regret + guilt and a desire to leave. // Alex Traube 1978eMuseum Notes
Alex Traube came to New Mexico in 1974 to concentrate on making art and in this image he reflects on what he left behind. Traube takes a radical approach to image-making, using a photograph of an anonymous woman taken by someone else and then daring to write directly on the surface of the photograph with ink. His story is also very personal, a shift from a previous standard that valued a sense of objectivity.
On View
Not on view