The Brown Sisters, Marblehead, Massachusetts
1979
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 20.2 x 25.2 cm (7 15/16 x 9 15/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Patrons' Permanent Fund
Accession Number
2001.67.169
Art Historical Context
**The Brown Sisters, Marblehead, Massachusetts (1979) is a captivating gelatin silver print by American photographer Nicholas Nixon, measuring 20.2 x 25.2 cm and housed in the National Gallery of's Department of Photographs (CPH). Acquired through the Patrons' Permanent, this work captures four women—the Brown sisters—posed together in the coastal town of Marblehead Massachusetts. Nixon's straightforward, documentary style shines through, emphasizing unadorned intimacy and the quiet dynamics of family. The gelatin silver print medium, a traditional black-and-white process using light-sensitiv...
About the Artist
Nicholas Nixon
Nicholas Nixon, born on October 27, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan, initially pursued American literature at the University of Michigan, earning his B.A. in 1969. It was during this time that he discovered photography, later advancing his skills with an M.F.A. from the University of New Mexico in 1975. Settling in Boston in the 1970s, Nixon married Bebe Brown, whose family became central to his most i...