Cutting the Card Quickly
Artist
Harold Edgerton
(American, 1903-1990)
CultureAmerican
Date1950-1990
MediumDye transfer print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 14 1/8 × 18 in. (35.9 × 45.7 cm)
Overall: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Mat: 22 1/4 × 25 1/2 in. (56.5 × 64.8 cm)
Overall: 16 × 20 in. (40.6 × 50.8 cm)
Overall, Mat: 22 1/4 × 25 1/2 in. (56.5 × 64.8 cm)
Credit LineGift of the Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation
Object number96.14.7
Not on view
DescriptionThis photograph depicts a jack-of-diamonds playing card being pierced by a bulleet.Label TextHarold Edgerton American, 1903–1990 Cutting the Card Quickly, 1964 Dye transfer print (photograph) More than 50 years after Eadweard Muybridge’s locomotion studies (seen nearby, opposite wall), MIT professor and electrical engineer Harold E. Edgerton (aka Papa Flash) carried motion photography to new extremes. Edgerton invented the stroboscopic light, an ultra-high-speed flash, which enabled him to capture images in mere fractions of a second. Merging science with art, Edgerton was able to synchronize the speed of his flash, shutter, and the moving object, thus creating photographs that show moments otherwise imperceptible by the human eye. Gift of the Harold and Esther Edgerton Family Foundation 96.14.7 Exhibition History"Revealing the Unseen: The Split-Second Photography of Harold Edgerton," The Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, Prints and Drawings Gallery, December 1, 1996 through February 16, 1997. "Silver Images: The Photography Collection at 25," Alice R. and Sol B. Frank Photo Galleries, Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Va., November 5, 2003 - August 2004. "Photographs Take Time: Pictures from the Chrysler Collection," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, VA, April 6 - August 26, 2018.
