“Untitled,” 1960s. © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
Ralph Eugene Meatyard is best known for the eerie, masked portraits in his photo book The Family Album of Lucybelle Crater, which was published after his death in 1972. Beginning on Saturday, May 19, 2012, the Philadelphia Museum of Art will exhibit “Ralph Eugene Meatyard: Dolls and Masks,” which explores Meatyard’s early work from the late-Fifties through the Sixties. In the images, his friends and family members wear masks while posing in rundown houses, forests and cemeteries. Dolls and doll parts also figure prominently in the work. The exhibition runs through August 5, 2012. For more info, visit www.philamuseum.org.
“Untitled,” 1960s. © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
“Untitled,” ca. 1960. © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
“Untitled,” ca. 1964. © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
“Untitled,” ca. 1968. © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
“Untitled,” ca. 1961. Courtesy Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, Museum Purchase, John Pritzker Fund. © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
“Untitled,” ca. 1962. Courtesy of William Goodman & Victoria Belco. © The Estate of Ralph Eugene Meatyard, Courtesy Fraenkel Gallery, San Francisco.
I had the opportunity to see some of Meatyards work at the de Young Museum in San Francisco this winter. Really interesting stuff. Dark and beautiful.
I agree with Tim, dark, beautiful and captivating work.
I just returned/ from being mesmorized by the Book/ Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s Dolls and Masks/ which I saw in the window/ of Brickbat Books/ on S.4th Street/ which obviously drew me inside to sit down and peruse this omigod deeply fascinating albeit disturbing but WOW and WOW again Photographic Essay of Meatyard’s work. To learn on the back page that whoopee/ the esteemed Philadelphia Museum of Art/ talk about serendipity has an Exibit of Ralph Eugene Meatyard’s Photographs/ which opened yesterday. Which I cannot wait to see. So thank you Curators/of Photograpy at the musee/whomever you are. Ya did good. ciao Roseanne T. Murphy