"Bread of Life," near Tuscaloosa, Alabama
William Christenberry
American, 1936–2016
1989
A chromogenic color photograph of a weathered roadside sign where a corporate cola logo has been partially overpainted with the hand-lettered phrase “BREAD‑OF‑LIFE,” recording the artist’s interest in place, memory, and decay in the rural South.
You notice first the dripping blue paint and torn metal—letters running and peeled away—contrasting the faded red stripe and the bright sky while thick green roadside growth creeps up beneath the sign.
Christenberry turns an ordinary, deteriorating advertisement into a document of local history and vernacular expression, part of his long project that helped legitimize color photographs of everyday American landscapes as carriers of cultural memory.
Medium
Chromogenic print
Dimensions
17 11/16 × 21 15/16" (45 × 55.7 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Gift of Lee Friedlander
Accession
595.2007
Palette
Exhibitions
