Real Estate #90467
1990
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
chromogenic print
Dimensions
image: 15.24 × 22.86 cm (6 × 9 in.) sheet: 20.32 × 25.4 cm (8 × 10 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of David Knaus, in Honor of the 25th Anniversary of Photography at the National Gallery of Art
Accession Number
2014.159.1.31
Art Historical Context
Henry Wessel's *Real Estate #90467 (1990) captures the mundane poetry of America's suburban fringe through a chromogenic print—a color photographic process that yields rich, vibrant tones from negatives developed in chemical baths. Measuring a modest 15.24 × 22.86 cm, this intimate image exemplifies Wessel's signature deadpan style, honed over decades of street photography in California. As part of his *Real Estate* series, likely documents a "For Sale" sign staked in an empty lot, transforming everyday signage into a meditation on transience, development, and the American Dream. Wessel, a ke...
About the Artist
Henry Wessel
Henry Wessel (1942–2018) was an American photographer celebrated for his spare, clear-eyed photographs of everyday life in the American West and beyond. Born in Teaneck, New Jersey, he studied at Pennsylvania State University and later at the State University of New York at Buffalo, where he worked with the influential photographer Minor White. White's emphasis on photography as a medium of carefu...