Between West Sidewinder Drive and State Highway 248, Looking Northwest
1979
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 16.25 × 24.13 cm (6 3/8 × 9 1/2 in.) sheet: 20.32 × 25.4 cm (8 × 10 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Joshua P. Smith)
Accession Number
2015.19.4378
Art Historical Context
Lewis Baltz's *Between West Sidewinder and State Highway 248 Looking Northwest* (197) captures the stark, anonymous terrain of Nevada's developing landscapes in a gelatin silver print, measuring just over 6 by 9 inches. As a pivotal figure in the New Topographics movement—which redefined landscape photography in the 1970s—Baltz documented the mundane fallout of post-war suburban and industrial expansion. This image, likely from his *Nevada* series, exemplifies his clinical gaze on vacant lots and roadways, shot from a precise vantage point looking northwest between nondescript drives and highw...
About the Artist
Lewis Baltz
Lewis Baltz (1945–2014) was born on September 12 in Newport Beach, California, where he developed an early passion for photography, beginning seriously at age 12. His father passed away when he was 11, an event that marked his childhood. Baltz pursued formal training at Monterey Peninsula College in 1967, followed by a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1969 and an MFA from Claremont Grad...