Power lines, Rome, Italy
1989–1991, printed 2006
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
chromogenic print
Dimensions
image: 26.4 × 17.7 cm (10 3/8 × 6 15/16 in.) sheet: 35.5 × 28 cm (14 × 11 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Stephen G. Stein
Accession Number
2020.29.107.1
Art Historical Context
Lewis Baltz's *Power lines, Rome,* (1989–1991, printed 2006) the stark geometry of urban infrastructure against the Roman skyline, a hallmark of the artist's late-career exploration of human-altered landscapes. A key figure in the New Top movement of the 1970s, Baltz shifted from American suburban sprawl to European sites in the 1980s and '90s, documenting the tension between natural beauty and industrial intrusion. This chromogenic color print, made from a color negative for vivid, long-lasting hues, exemplifies his precise, detached gaze—transforming mundane power lines into a meditation on ...
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...