The Way It Looked
1987
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 59.25 × 50 cm (23 5/16 × 19 11/16 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Museum Purchase)
Accession Number
2015.19.4417
Art Historical Context
**The Way It Looked**, a captivating gelatin silver print by American photographer Sally Mann from 1987, measures an impressive 59.25 × 50 cm, inviting viewers into her evocative world. Mann, renowned for her intimate black-and-white portraits and landscapes of rural Virginia, masterfully employs the gelatin silver process—a classic 19th-century technique involving silver halides suspended in gelatin emulsion. This medium yields rich tonal gradations and fine details, lending her works a timeless, almost painterly depth that distinguishes them from modern color photography. Created during a p...
About the Artist
Sally Mann
Sally Mann (born 1951) is an American photographer widely regarded as one of the most important and provocative artists working in the medium today. Born in Lexington, Virginia, Mann was raised in the rural landscape of the Shenandoah Valley that would become a defining presence in her art. She studied at Putney School in Vermont, Bennington College, and Friends World College before earning her BA...