Lake Bonneville: Great Salt Lake Desert, Wendover A.F.B., Atomic Bomb Loading Pit
1999
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 19 × 24.1 cm (7 1/2 × 9 1/2 in.) mount: 40.6 × 51 cm (16 × 20 1/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon
Accession Number
2012.113.4
Art Historical Context
Mark Ruwedel's *Lake Bonneville: Great Salt Desert, Wendover A.B., Atomic Bomb Loading* (1999) captures a haunting remnant of America's atomic past. This gelatin silver print, 19 × 24.1 cm, depicts the stark, eroded concrete pit at Wendover Air Force Base Utah's Great Salt Lake—once part of ancient Lake Bonneville. Ruwedel, a contemporary photographer renowned for his meticulous documentation of landscapes marked by human history, transforms this utilitarian relic into a meditative study of time and transience. Historically, Wendover A.F.B. played a pivotal role in World War II as the trainin...
About the Artist
Mark Ruwedel
Mark Ruwedel, born on June 11, 1954, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, initially pursued painting, earning a BFA from Kutztown State College in 1978. He transitioned to photography during this time, later obtaining an MFA from Concordia University in Montreal in 1983. Working as a custom printer in Pennsylvania from 1979 to 1980 honed his technical skills before he relocated to Canada, where he taught a...