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Image

Ray Metzker

Untitled

Description

Maker

Ray Metzker (American, 1931-2014 b. Milwaukee)

Title

Untitled
from the series Couplets

Year

1968

Medium

  • gelatin silver print

Materials/Techniques

Techniques

  • gelatin silver print

Materials

gelatin silver print

Dimensions

23 x 16.1 cm (9 1/16 x 6 5/16 inches) (trimmed)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

Artist's # inscribed in pencil on verso of mount:68 CU

Credit / Object Number

Credit

Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gilman Angier

Object Number

78.073

Type

  • Photographs

Projects & Publications

Publications

  • Books

Selected Works

Exhibition History

Exhibition History

The Performative Self-Portrait
May 13, 2023 – Nov 12, 2023

Label copy

Ray Metzker often explored “doubling” in his work, either by exposing a negative twice before development or by printing two different negatives on a single sheet of photographic paper. His Couplets series allowed him to play around with juxtaposition and, by extension, imply a narrative. Here, Metzker’s own shadow looms over an unsuspecting beachgoer resting in a lounge chair. The seemingly innocent trails in the sand below take on a disquieting air if we imagine the chair dragged out of the frame.


–Matthew Kluk (Brown PhD 2025, History of Art and Architecture), RISD proctor 2021–2022


Presence Through Process
Jan 15, 2010 – Jun 20, 2010

Label copy

Ray Metzker studied at the Institute of Design in Chicago from 1956 to 1959, a time when the program encouraged photography students to explore unconventional modes of cropping, framing, and printing. This is one of a series of images Metzger made near the boardwalk in Atlantic City between 1968 and 1977, which he originally printed as provocative couplets. Captivated by the abstract gestures of entangled shadows and unselfconscious postures on the beach, the pairing implies a narrative, but one that is unresolved. Metzker refers to the scenes as “delicate moments-unadorned and unglamorous, yet tender and exquisite.”

The RISD Eye
Photographs by Faculty and Alumni from the Permanent Collection
Mar 08, 1991 – May 05, 1991

Use & Feedback

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This object is in copyright

Tombstone

Ray Metzker (American, 1931-2014 b. Milwaukee)
Untitled; from the series Couplets, 1968
Gelatin silver print
23 x 16.1 cm (9 1/16 x 6 5/16 inches) (trimmed)
Gift of Mr. and Mrs. Gilman Angier 78.073

To request new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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