The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of April 16, 2024

Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico

Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico

1931
(American, 1890–1976)
America, 20th century
gelatin silver print
Image: 9.2 x 11.9 cm (3 5/8 x 4 11/16 in.); Matted: 30.6 x 35.6 cm (12 1/16 x 14 in.)
Leonard C. Hanna, Jr. Fund 1983.202
© Aperture Foundation, Inc., Paul Strand Archive
Location: not on view

Description

Both of these images explore the relationship between the three- and two-dimensional worlds and, while remaining representational, emphasize each building’s abstract qualities. Best known as a painter, but also a draftsman, printmaker, filmmaker, and photographer. Crawford focused on the rural architecture of Pennsylvania and Delaware in the mid-1930s. The 18th-century adobe church of San Francisco de Assisi in Rancho de Taos, New Mexico, was an icon of pure form for modernist artists from Georgia O’Keeffe and Ansel Adams to Paul Strand, who spent summers in Taos from 1930 to 1932. Ansel Adams also chose this view of the back with its sculptural buttresses, stating that “it is the rear elevation that defines this building as one of the great architectural monuments of America.”
  • Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 336
  • From Riches to Rags: American Photography in the Depression. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 13-December 31, 2017).
    Icons of American Photography: A Century of Photographs from the Cleveland Museum of Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (June 24-September 16, 2007).
    Legacy of Light: Seven Masters in Depth. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (November 20-February 2, 1996).
    The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-April 9, 1989).
    The Year in Review for 1983. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (February 22-April 8, 1984).
  • {{cite web|title=Church, Rancho de Taos, New Mexico|url=false|author=Paul Strand|year=1931|access-date=16 April 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1983.202