Untitled Diptych From Father/Son Series
Artist
Susan Unterberg
(American, b. 1941)
CultureAmerican
Date1989
MediumPolaroid print
DimensionsOverall, Support: 34 1/2 x 51 in. (87.6 x 129.5 cm)
Overall, Image: 31 x 22 1/4 in. (78.7 x 56.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 35 1/2 × 52 in. (90.2 × 132.1 cm)
Overall, Image: 31 x 22 1/4 in. (78.7 x 56.5 cm)
Overall, Frame: 35 1/2 × 52 in. (90.2 × 132.1 cm)
Credit LinePurchase and National Endowment for the Arts
Object number89.90
On View
Not on viewLabel TextSusan Unterberg American (b. 1941) Untitled Diptych from Father/Son series, 1989 Polaroid print Museum purchase and National Endowment for the Arts 89.90 Photographer Susan Unterberg began exploring contemporary familial relationships in her 1985 series Mother/Daughter and continued the theme in three later series-Father/Son (1989), Sisters (1991), and Couples (1991). In Father/Son she purposefully avoided excessive direction, freeing her subjects to choose their own poses and dress. She began each Father/Son work as a group composition, then photographed the sitters individually and pieced those images together to create a diptych, or two-part format. The Chrysler's print features two sons standing like polar opposites at the edges of the frame. Their patriarch occupies the center, his image sliced in two. The bifurcated composition encourages the viewer to speculate on family dynamics. Is the work meant to highlight the father's struggle to balance his attention between his offspring? Does the physical distance between the two brothers suggest an emotional rift? The psychological ambiguity of Unterberg's photography clearly serves to underscore the complexity of family relationships in the late twentieth century. Exhibition History"The Portrait in America," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, Jan. 26 - April 8, 1990. "Women of the Chrysler: a 400-Year Celebration of the Arts," Large Changing Gallery, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., March 24 - July 18, 2010.Published ReferencesBrooks Johnson. _The Portrait in America_. The Chrysler Museum, Norfolk, VA. 1990: pp. 10, 71.
