The Hollywood Suites (Doors) #1
1976
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 24.4 × 32.3 cm (9 5/8 × 12 11/16 in.) sheet: 27.7 × 35.5 cm (10 7/8 × 14 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Mary and Dan Solomon
Accession Number
2018.177.86
Art Historical Context
**The Hollywood Suites (Doors)1**, a captivating gelatin silver print by Steve Kahn from 1976, invites visitors the shadowy allure of mid1970s Los Angeles. Capturing a door in a Hollywood apartment suite, this 9⅝ × 12¹¹/₁₆-inch image is part of Kahn's intimate *Hollywood Suites* series, which explored the transient, often overlooked interiors of urban motels and rentals. Through stark contrasts and subtle textures inherent to the gelatin silver process—a classic black-and-white photographic medium prized for its tonal depth and archival quality—Kahn transforms mundane architecture into a porta...
About the Artist
Steve Kahn
Steve Kahn (1943–2018) was an American photographer born on December 29, 1943, in Los Angeles to Virginia and Eugene Kahn. Demonstrating an early passion for the medium, he shot assignments for a local newspaper while still in grade school and later worked as a photojournalist on the streets of Los Angeles starting in 1968, contributing as a stringer to magazines like *Life* and *Newsweek*. Kahn e...