Tract House #18
1971
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image/sheet: 14.5 × 21.27 cm (5 11/16 × 8 3/8 in.) mount: 27.94 × 27.94 cm (11 × 11 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Corcoran Collection (Gift of the artist)
Accession Number
2014.136.399
Art Historical Context
**Tract House #18** (1971) by Lewis Baltz is a poignant gelatin silver print capturing the stark uniformity of suburban tract housing in post-World War II America. Measuring a modest 14.5 × 21.27 cm, this intimate image belongs to Baltz's seminal *Tract Houses* series which documents the rapid, cookie-cutter development of California's Bay Area suburbs. These homes, mass-produced for the booming middle class, symbolize the's promise of affordable homeownership amid economic expansion and urban flight. Baltz, a pioneer of the New Topographics movement, employed a cool, objective style—eschewin...
About the Artist
Lewis Baltz
Lewis Baltz (1945–2014) was born on September 12 in Newport Beach, California, where he developed an early passion for photography, beginning seriously at age 12. His father passed away when he was 11, an event that marked his childhood. Baltz pursued formal training at Monterey Peninsula College in 1967, followed by a BFA from the San Francisco Art Institute in 1969 and an MFA from Claremont Grad...