City Whispers

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City Whispers

Artist Ray Krueger Metzker American, 1931 - 2014

Date1981

DimensionsOverall: 8 x 9 15/16 in. (20.3 x 25.2 cm)

Mediumsilver print

ClassificationPhotographs

Credit LinePurchased with funds given by an anonymous donor

Object number

1984.13

Not on View

Collections

Works on Paper

Exhibition HistoryToledo Museum of Art, Refraction/Reflection, April 20-September 2, 2012.Label TextTrained at the Institute of Design in Chicago, Ray Metzker is considered to be a formalist. Formalism is the concept that a work of art’s artistic value is derived entirely by its form. In a formalist work everything necessary to understanding the art is present. Color, line, shape, and texture are the dominate elements; while realism, context, and content are secondary, and ultimately, non-essential. Metzker’s gelatin-silver prints expressively isolate the unique formal aspects of the black and white medium. In City Whispers, Metzker has accentuated the strong black and white contrasts. While the title suggests a place and context, the space and content of the image are ambiguous. The city, one of Metzker’s favorite subjects, becomes a conundrum or visual puzzle of form, light, and shadow.