Chicago

Kenneth JosephsonWW-1970-105034

1970·Collage of gelatin silver prints·17.6 × 17.3 cm (6 15/16 × 6 13/16 in.)

<p>Known for his influential experiments with the formal and conceptual boundaries of photography, Kenneth Josephson layers photographs within photographs, focusing on the act of image making and investigating how a photograph differs from reality. Between 1968 and 1972, Josephson began to experiment with collage and photomontage. This image belongs to a series he called “tear-offs,” in which he applied torn photographic prints over other prints and then re-photographed the result. The torn paper refers to “test strips”—a term used for sample prints made by subjecting sections of an image to different exposure times to determine the best exposure for the final print. In this case, Josephson arranged the purported test strip to resemble a piece of a building that has fallen from its original position.</p>

Catalogue

Year: 1970
Medium: Collage of gelatin silver prints
Dimensions: 17.6 × 17.3 cm (6 15/16 × 6 13/16 in.)
Collection: Art Institute of Chicago
Artist: Kenneth Josephson

Artist

Kenneth Josephson

Photography

Kenneth Josephson is an American photographer known for conceptual and formally rigorous work that treats the photograph itself as a sculptural or architectural object. Working primarily with black-and-white film since the 1960s, he explores the relationship between the camera's mechanical vision and human perception, often incorporating the frame edge, the photograph's materiality, or reflections within the image plane. His practice examines photography not as transparent documentation but as a constructed medium with its own spatial and temporal logic.

Detroit, MI, USA

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