22h10
Robert De Boeck
1944–1999
1974
A twin‑bell alarm clock whose painted face is actually a gelatin silver photographic print, the artist fusing image and object to make time itself into a visible, photographed thing.
You immediately recognize a brass bedside alarm clock, but the dial is a black‑and‑white photograph—complete with printed numerals, two small subdials and a rusty spot—so the familiar object feels doubled and slightly uncanny.
De Boeck’s work collapses photography and sculpture, part of a 1970s move to emphasize the photograph’s material presence and to question how everyday objects and time are represented and recontextualized.
Medium
Gelatin silver print mounted to alarm clock
Dimensions
6 5/8 × 4 3/4 × 2 3/8" (16.8 × 12 × 6 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
Partial gift of the Daled Collection and partial purchase through the generosity of Maja Oeri and Hans Bodenmann, Sue and Edgar Wachenheim III, Agnes Gund, Marlene Hess and James D. Zirin, Marie-Josée and Henry R. Kravis, and Jerry I. Speyer and Katherine G. Farley
Accession
722.2011
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
