Outside(Inside) Event #2

For my second outside event, myself and an esteemed colleague vistited the de Young Museum. For different reasons we attended but never the less eventful. I wanted to see the series of Meatyard photographs that were just recently put on display there.

Meatyard has a haunting way about him that I am drawn to. Creepy masks, strange looking people and places make up the majority of the works on display. I analyzed one such photograph entitled Romance (N.) from Ambrose Bierce #3, which is a brilliant example of Meatyard's work.

Romance (N.) from Ambrose Bierce #3 (1962), is a nearly disturbing photograph by Ralph Eugene Meatyard which on display at the de Young Museum. The most interesting aspect of the print is the obvious appearance of four figures wearing creepy masks. Meatyard’s use of subject matter and position are apparent in the print.

            Scattered throughout the image are what appears to be a family of four masked figures. They are all wearing very distinctly disturbing masks and seem to be staring off in the same direction. The figure at the forefront seems to be a young boy or girl wearing an oversized apotropaic face-like mask, which adds to the effect of the imagery. The young boy/girl sitting on the step labeled 2 is sitting with it’s head resting on it’s hand with the mask overlapping the hand and the mask seems to look like the face has been burnt on one side.  There is an older figure sitting on the step labeled 3 and the mask is abnormally puffed out and sagging. The figure in the far back is sitting on the step labeled 5 with the mask resting on her lap (assuming by the skirt that ‘she’ is in fact she).

            Although the figure within the image are offset and scattered, the image itself seems to be aligned to the stairs themselves. Perfectly in the middle of the image, the stairs ascend from the very forefront and continue off the borders of the image. By the numbers marking the steps, it looks as though the figures are sitting on bleachers at a sporting event.

            The background setting is somewhat non-descript but it looks as if it could be a sports arena or some kind of place for public sports. The steps are numbered and ascend up which can be row assignments. Also, there seems to be two steps for every bleacher seat, making the seating area twice as tall as each step.

            Meatyard is a master of tone. The low and high tones of the image are brilliantly decided and add the effect of the image. The figure sitting on step 3 has a stark white shirt that contrasts against the dark tones surrounding him. At the very top is the very first eye-drawing true black.  Also every figure within the image has an element of true black attached. The younger figures have true black in the shoes and pants, while the figure on step 3 has only true black in the shoes and the figure on step 5 is nearly all true black from the skirt up.

            Meatyard uses creepy figures and the contrast of tones in order to convey the intended feel. Although the prints are fairly small in scale (about 8in x 8in), this forces the viewer to get close to the image in order to fully inspect the image. The scale of the image creates a very intimate environment in which the characters in the image live. Overall, the device of tone, subject, place, and the sheer oddity of this print make it a brilliant piece of photographic history.