Jacob Crawford, "Southern," Transylvania, Louisiana
1999
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print on aluminum
Dimensions
image/plate: 12.7 × 10.1 cm (5 × 4 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Julia J. Norrell, in Honor of Claude Simard and the 25th Anniversary of Photography at the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
2014.177.147
Art Historical Context
Deborah Luster's *Jacob Crawford, "Southern," Transylvania, Louisiana* (1999) is a poignant photographic portrait that draws viewers into the life of its subject, a man from the rural Louisiana Delta. The evocative title—pairing a personal nickname with the town's mysterious name, Transylvania—hints at stories rooted in Southern identity and place, captured in this small-scale image that feels intimately personal. Printed as a gelatin silver print on aluminum, the work exemplifies late-20th-century darkroom techniques, where light-sensitive silver halides create rich tonal depth, enhanced by ...
About the Artist
Deborah Luster
Deborah Luster, born in 1951 in Bend, Oregon, grew up in Northwest Arkansas and later made her home in New Orleans, Louisiana, with additional time spent in Galway, Ireland. Her path to photography was profoundly shaped by personal tragedy: the 1988 murder of her mother, which prompted her to take up the medium as a means of processing grief and exploring violence's aftermath. Luster attended the ...