Wenoa, Maryland
Steve Szabo
American, 1940–2000
1972
A platinum-print photograph of a dead marsh bird among dune grasses, made to force a calm, uncompromising look at loss and the overlooked scenes of the natural world.
Seen from above, the quiet, soft tonalities of the platinum process and the close, almost forensic framing turn matted feathers, sandy ground, and tangled stems into a textured, melancholic still life that pulls you in to examine small details.
Made in the early 1970s, the work links fine photographic craft to a documentary, elegiac impulse—using a historic printing process to make visible ecological fragility and the poetic dignity of ordinary, unattended deaths.
Medium
Platinum print
Dimensions
7 1/2 × 9 1/2" (19.0 × 24.2 cm)
Classification
Department
Credit
David H. McAlpin Fund
Accession
60.1974
Palette
Art Terms
Exhibitions
