Six Wing Cell Block, Ramsey Prison Texas
1968, printed 1995
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 22.23 × 32.7 cm (8 3/4 × 12 7/8 in.) sheet: 27.62 × 35.24 cm (10 7/8 × 13 7/8 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of Betsy Karel)
Accession Number
2015.19.5226
Art Historical Context
Danny Lyon's *Six Wing Cell Block, Ramsey Prison Texas* (1968, printed 1995) captures the stark, oppressive architecture of a Texas prison cell block during a pivotal era in American penal history. As a pioneering documentary photographer, Lyon gained rare access to the Ramsey Unit in 1967–68, embedding himself among inmates to expose the dehumanizing realities of the U.S. prison system amid the civil rights movement and rising critiques of incarceration. This gelatin silver print, with its rich tonal contrasts and sharp details, exemplifies mid-20th-century black-and-white photography's power...