Real Estate #90912
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
2014.159.1.36
Art Historical Context
Henry Wessel's *Real Estate #90912* (1990) captures the essence of late-20th-century American suburbia through a chromogenic print, a color photographic process that yields vibrant, durable images from negatives or transparencies. This 6 × 9-inch image, printed on an 8 × 10-inch sheet, exemplifies Wessel's signature deadpan style—straightforward, unembellished documentation of the built environment. As part of his "Real Estate" series, it likely inventories mundane property signs or vacant lots, inviting viewers to reflect on the commodification of land in an expanding urban fringe. Wessel, a...
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...