Baja, California (9 February 1980), sequence of 5

Date1980

Artist Michel Szulc Krzyzanowski (born 1949)

CultureDutch

MediumGelatin silver print mounted on paper

EditionEdition 6 of 25

DimensionsImage (each): 2 11/16 x 4 1/16 in. (6.8 x 10.3 cm)
Sheet (each): 2 7/8 x 4 1/4 in. (7.3 x 10.8 cm)
Mount: 19 11/16 x 27 5/8 in. (50 x 70.2 cm)

Credit LineGift of Orly Cogan and Robert Mann

On View

Not on view

Period20th c

Classification(s)

Photograph

SignedOn recto, signed center right of mount in pencil: M Szulc Krzyzanowski

InscribedOn recto, by artist, along center of mount below photographs in pencil: Baja California / 9 februari 1980 / 6/25 / [signature]. On verso, by unknown hand, upper right corner in pencil: ICMG18173 / 1245. On verso, by unknown hand, lower left corner: FLLAC2021.48.

BibliographySzulc Krzyzanowski, Michel and David Travis. Michel Szulc Krzyzanowski. Haarlem, the Netherlands: Joh. Enschedé en Zonen, 1984

Vassar Exhibitions

Chronostasia: Select Acquisitions 2020–2025

Label TextFive frames document a solitary crossing. Each shows the photographer’s elongated shadow stretching across sand, with subtle shifts in position marking his progression through the desert terrain. The horizon appears to tilt with the shadow’s movement, a careful orchestration that makes the world seem to bend with time. Since 1978, Michel Szulc-Krzyzanowski has pursued photographic ambulations across the American Southwest, traveling to remote locations and remaining for weeks to create sequences. His practice reduces photography to its most essential elements: light, time, and movement. The camera becomes a mechanism for measuring human presence against vast, empty landscapes. As curator David Travis notes, “It is not so much an experience during time that he presents, but rather a conceptual experience concerning time.” Here, the photographer emerges as both figure and measure—his shadow cast across sand becomes the instrument through which time itself is made visible.

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu