Untitled (Karnak, Egypt)

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Untitled (Karnak, Egypt)

Artist Eleanor Parke Custis (American, 1897-1983)

Date1935

DimensionsH: 15 3/4 in. (40 cm); W: 13 1/4 in. (33.7 cm)

MediumVintage bromide print.

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LineGift of Mrs. Webster Plass, by exchange

Object number

2005.295

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Refraction/Reflection, April 20-September 2, 2012.

Toledo Museum of Art, The Mummies: From Egypt to Toledo, February 3- May 6, 2018.

Label TextEleanor Parke Custis, a direct descendant of Martha Washington, was introduced at an early age to painting and photography. She studied at the Corcoran Gallery of Art School and was interested in Japanese woodblock prints, Art Nouveau designs, and the Arts and Crafts aesthetic. In 1933, Custis sold her paintings to finance a trip to North Africa, where she produced many paintings and even more photographs. First exhibited in 1934, her opulent prints were ideally suited to the Pictorialist aesthetic and were extensively exhibited in popular photographic salons hosted by museums. This photograph is a dramatic study of light reflecting on and through the columns of the great hypostyle hall in the Precinct of Amun-Re, part of the vast temple complex at Karnak.