Friday, November 12, 2010

Photo Friday: Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Ralph Eugene Meatyard, 1929-1972, sounds like a very normal guy on paper. WWII veteran, Midwestern, happily married, three children. He was even born in a town called Normal, Illinois. But once you take a look at his photographs, you realize just how exceptional he really was.

Unlike his relatively glamorous contemporaries on either American coast, Meatyard never earned his living as a photographer. He spent his entire adult life working as an optician in Lexington, Kentucky. On weekends, he, his wife, and their children would go out to abandoned houses and buildings where Meatyard would arrange complex scenes and capture them on film.

There's a wonderful article about him here that you should check out!


Many of Meatyard's are sort of simultaneous reflections of  and projections onto the immediate surroundings. The peeling paint becomes wings because we see the movement of the boy's arms, and the boy's arms become wings when we see the feathered peeling paint.




I love how the light in this photograph almost seems external to it even as it dictates the boys' placement in the room.


This one always seems to stick out a little to me. It's as close to tenderness as he gets, I think.







I love the way that Meatyard's work is so conceptual without being pretentious or alienating.







Sources
http://oberlinphoto.blogspot.com/2008/10/ralph-eugene-meatyard.html
http://www.mocp.org/collections/permanent/meatyard_ralph_eugene.php
http://azalolaza.blogspot.com/2007/05/meatyard.html

14 comments:

callie said...

Love that first photograph. Can't get over how much i love this feature!

Ashley/ MILK TEETHS said...

Wow his photos were awesome! Sorta creepy but I can dig it, I'm going to show my bf this, I think he'd like his work a lot :)

xx
MILK TEETHS

Tonio said...

TODAS, TODAS, TODAS PERO TODAS LAS FOTOS SON SUPER INSPIRADORAS.
ME HA ENCANTADO TU MENSAJE EN MI BLOG!
HABLAS PERFECTAMENTE ESPAÑOL, ME ENCANTA QUE LO HAYAS ESCRITO EN MI IDIOMA!!! MUY LINDO DE TU PARTE...
TE FELICITO POR EL LOOK DE AYER... ME ENCANTÓ
UN BESO SOPHHH!!

YOU ARE SOOO CUTE!

Jenny Morris said...

your blog is so great! and i feel like we are going to be blogger friends..a kindred spirit! following you :)

FASHIONMADEMEFUNKY
www.fashionmademefunky.blogspot.com

melina bee said...

I really appreciated your comments. they were also "not pretentious and alienating" but specific, and emotional.

Annebeth said...

thanks for mentioning me a few posts back! It struck home for me because yesterday, I didn't have any pictures and it was raining like mad and I didn't want to take crappy indoor pictures, so I just skipped a day. For the first time in like, a year. I'm really happy I'm not prone to addictions, because I would've been going cold turkey yesterday! It was surprisingly easy actually. Just sad I broke my streak :D

match.box.muse said...

gorgeous photographs. creepy but inspiring! thanks for sharing :)

kisses from Paris, M

Leire said...

Amazing pics :)

Vivian said...

whoa...these are awesome. every one of his works are amazing.

-vivian
http://noicestreet.blogspot.com

Kennedy said...

all of these are so wonderful

The Disco Pony Girl (CEO and Designer at Disco Pony) said...

Haunting... especially the two boys jumping... beautiful

x
www.makeshiftmodel.co.uk

Kennedy said...

all of these are so wonderful

Jenny Morris said...

your blog is so great! and i feel like we are going to be blogger friends..a kindred spirit! following you :)

FASHIONMADEMEFUNKY
www.fashionmademefunky.blogspot.com

Annebeth said...

thanks for mentioning me a few posts back! It struck home for me because yesterday, I didn't have any pictures and it was raining like mad and I didn't want to take crappy indoor pictures, so I just skipped a day. For the first time in like, a year. I'm really happy I'm not prone to addictions, because I would've been going cold turkey yesterday! It was surprisingly easy actually. Just sad I broke my streak :D