High Iron, Guilford, Connecticut
1990
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 23.3 × 28.5 cm (9 3/16 × 11 1/4 in.) sheet: 27.5 × 34.9 cm (10 13/16 × 13 3/4 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of the Artist in memory of his great grandmother, Clementine Dixon Welling
Accession Number
2020.158.52
Art Historical Context
**High Iron, Guilford, Connecticut** (1990) is a striking gelatin silver print by contemporary American photographer James Welling, now housed in the National Gallery of Art's Department of Photographs. Measuring a modest 23.3 × 28.5 cm, this intimate black-and-white image captures a moment in Guilford, Connecticut—a quaint coastal town with deep New England roots. The title "High Iron" evokes the world of railroads, where "iron" is slang for tracks, suggesting Welling's keen eye for everyday industrial scenes at the tail end of the analog photography era. Created just as digital imaging bega...
About the Artist
James Welling
James Welling, born in 1951 in Hartford, Connecticut, emerged as one of the most innovative voices in contemporary American photography through a multidisciplinary path that shaped his experimental ethos. He began his artistic training at Carnegie-Mellon University, studying drawing under Gandy Brodie, a second-generation Abstract Expressionist, before exploring modern dance at the University of P...