Hearst Over the People (Photomontage)
Artist
Barbara Morgan
(American, 1900-1992)
CultureAmerican
Date1939, printed before 1992
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsOverall, Image: 11 15/16 × 15 1/16 in. (30.3 × 38.3 cm)
Overall, Paper: 15 7/8 × 19 15/16 in. (40.3 × 50.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 1/16 × 24 in. (51 × 61 cm)
Overall, Paper: 15 7/8 × 19 15/16 in. (40.3 × 50.6 cm)
Overall, Mat: 20 1/16 × 24 in. (51 × 61 cm)
InscribedSigned in the negative at lower right corner: "Barbara Morgan"; signed in ink at right in lower margin: "Barbara Morgan - 1939"; on the reverse in graphite in an unknown hand: "Photograph by Barbara Morgan Hearst over the People 1939"
Credit LineGift of Lloyd and Janet Morgan
Object number2007.22.6
Not on view
DescriptionThis gelatin silver print is of a photomontage. The image is of a crowd of people with a large octopus-like figure with a man's face in the middle of it hovering above them.Label TextBarbara Morgan American (1900–1992) Hearst Over the People (Photomontage), 1939 Gelatin-silver print, printed before 1992 Gift of Lloyd and Janet Morgan 2007.22.6 In Hearst Over the People, the newspaper magnate William Randolph Hearst, whose face is positioned on the body of a massive octopus, extends his long tentacles over the New York populace, much in the same way he controlled the journalism industry. At its peak, Hearst’s vast empire included over twenty-eight major newspapers and eighteen magazines. His loss of financial status during the Great Depression and his Nazi sympathies led to a decline in his power and prestige by 1940. Originally trained as a painter, Barbara Morgan became interested in photography while teaching art at University of California, Los Angeles in the 1920s. Morgan is acknowledged as the first in the United States to work with the technique of photomontage. Although not associated with the movement, her groundbreaking photomontages splice and combine images in unique ways that recall the psychological explorations of Surrealism. ProvenanceLloyd and Janet Morgan [managers of the Barbara Morgan archive], Hastings-on-Hudson, New York; Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, Gift of Lloyd and Janet Morgan, 2008 Exhibition History"Barbara Morgan Photographs," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, November 1985 - January 1986. A print of this photograph "Remix: A Fresh Look At Our Modern And Contemporary Art Collections," Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia, November 2, 2011 - March 17, 2012.Published ReferencesIntro by Peter Bunnell, _Barbara Morgan_ (Hastings-on-Hudson: Morgan & Morgan, 1972) A print of this photograph Barbara Morgan, _Martha Graham: Sixteen Dances in Photographs_ (New York: Morgan & Morgan, Inc.; 1st rev.ed. edition, 1980) ISBN: 978-0871001764 A print of this photograph
