The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts
2013
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 19.7 × 24.7 cm (7 3/4 × 9 3/4 in.) sheet: 20.5 × 25.9 cm (8 1/16 × 10 3/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Randi and Bob Fisher Fund
Accession Number
2013.193.1
Art Historical Context
**The Brown Sisters, Truro, Massachusetts (2013) is a poignant gelatin silver print by American photographer Nicholas Nixon, capturing four women—likely sisters—standing together against a natural backdrop in Truro, Massachusetts. Measuring a modest 19.7 × 24.7 cm, this intimate portrait exemplifies Nixon's mastery of black-and-white photography, using the gelatin silver process to achieve rich tonal gradations and subtle textures that convey emotional depth and the passage of time. Nixon, renowned for his straightforward, empathetic portraiture, employs a direct gaze and unadorned compositio...
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...