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

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