Dave In the Car, #2
1991, printed 1994
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
sheet: 35.4 × 27.6 cm (13 15/16 × 10 7/8 in.) image: 32.5 × 21.4 cm (12 13/16 × 8 7/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Betsy Karel)
Accession Number
2015.19.4861
Art Historical Context
Jim Goldberg's *Dave In the Car,2* (1991, printed 1994) invites viewers into an intimate snapshot of everyday life, captured through the classic medium of gelatin silver print. This black-and-white photographic process, favored by artists for its rich tonal gradations and sharp detail, was a staple of 20th-century documentary photography. Measuring 35.4 × 27.6 cm, the print's modest scale draws us close, emphasizing the personal and unposed quality suggested by the title—a portrait of an individual named Dave amid the confines of a car, part of a numbered series that hints at deeper exploratio...
About the Artist
Jim Goldberg
Jim Goldberg, born in 1953 in New Haven, Connecticut, emerged as a pivotal figure in American documentary photography through his immersive, collaborative approach to capturing marginalized lives. He earned a BA in photography from Western Washington University in 1975 before studying at the San Francisco Art Institute under Larry Sultan, a conceptually oriented photographer whose influence shaped...