Wooden Dowels
1939
Image not available — this artwork is under copyright
View on museum website →Medium
gelatin silver print
Dimensions
image: 30.9 × 47.1 cm (12 3/16 × 18 9/16 in.) sheet: 40.7 × 50.1 cm (16 × 19 3/4 in.)
Classification
Photograph
Department
CPH
Museum
National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.
Credit
Gift of Kiyoko Lerner
Accession Number
2012.115.66
Art Historical Context
In 1939, American photographer Nathan Lerner created *Wooden Dowels*, striking gelatin silver print that captures the elegant simplicity of everyday materials transformed into abstract geometry. Measuring 30.9 × 47.1 cm, this black-and-white image exemplifies the modernist fascination with form, light, and shadow prevalent in the late 1930s. Gelatin silver prints, the gold standard for fine art photography the time, allowed Lerner to achieve exceptional tonal depth and crisp detail, turning humble wooden rods into a study rhythm and structure. Lerner's work reflects the influence of European ...
About the Artist
Nathan Lerner
Nathan Lerner (1913–1997), born in Chicago as the second of three sons to Ukrainian immigrants Louis and Ida Lerner, grew up in an artistic family—his older brother was a writer, his younger a flutist with the Pittsburgh Symphony, his mother later painted watercolors, and his father became a temple cantor. At age nine, he attended Saturday children's art classes at the Art Institute of Chicago und...