Skip to main content

Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

American, 1925-1972

Ralph Eugene Meatyard was a self-described ‘dedicated amateur’ photographer. He pursued his own vision to produce an exquisitely enigmatic, widely admired body of work. Meatyard began taking photographs in 1950, roaming the backwoods and towns in Kentucky, experimenting with framing, multiple exposures and blurring to produce haunting, abstracted images of natural and manmade environments. In the late 1950s, he began incorporating monstrous, oversized latex masks and hands into his photographs, in addition to plastic dolls. His family and friends were the protagonists in his carefully composed scenes. For Meatyard, who was inspired by literature, Zen Buddhism and jazz, the masks served to equalize his subjects and shift focus elsewhere—to the poignant juxtaposition of otherworldly faces on human bodies, to the ambiguous and unknowable in human nature.

to
1
Overall Width
to
Overall Height
to
1
1
1
1
1
11
3,532
949
922
699
1
Artist: Ralph Eugene Meatyard
Untitled ("Motion-Sound" Landscape)

Untitled ("Motion-Sound" Landscape)

By Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Located in New York, NY

From a portfolio of ten gelatin silver prints from original Meatyard negatives (1959-71) Printed April 1974 Edition of 130 Credit stamp, verso 7 x 7 inches, image 15 x 12 inches, mount This artwork is offered by ClampArt, located in New York City. “Meatyard searched continually for a non-objective art that would be wordless poetry, spontaneous music without sound. The ‘Motion-Sound’ pictures of his later years brought Meatyard’s passion for music and, paradoxically, the silence of Zen Buddhism together in photography. In creating the series, he focused the camera on a natural scene (or one containing plain rural architecture) and then moved it slightly. The result of this action is an image that suggests sound while abstracting natural forms. The landscapes of the ‘Motion-Sound’ series are in stark contrast to the evocative, more traditional views of the Red River Gorge that Meatyard was executing during the same years.” —Judith Keller, Ralph Eugene Meatyard (London: Phaidon Press Limited, 2002), p. 122 An optician by trade, Ralph Eugene Meatyard was a self-described “dedicated amateur” photographer. He pursued his own vision to produce an exquisitely enigmatic, widely admired body of work. Meatyard began taking photographs in 1950, roaming the backwoods and towns in Kentucky, experimenting with framing, multiple exposures, and blurring to produce haunting, abstracted images of natural and manmade environments. In the late 1950s, he began incorporating monstrous, oversized latex masks...

Category

Late 20th Century Post-Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Related Items
"Yeow! Point, Death Valley" - Abstracted Black & White Landscape Photograph
"Yeow! Point, Death Valley" - Abstracted Black & White Landscape Photograph

"Yeow! Point, Death Valley" - Abstracted Black & White Landscape Photograph

By Jeff Nixon

Located in Soquel, CA

"Yeow! Pt, Death Valley", a black and white landscape photograph that borders on abstraction by Jeff Nixon (American, 20th century). Signed "Jeff Nixon" lower right. Titled "Yeow! Pt, Death Valley" on verso. Unframed. Photograph size: 8"H x 9.5"W. Mat,12"H x 15"W. Jeff Nixon began photographing in the late 1960's, and by the end of the millennium had acquired an impressive list of credentials; many years as a year round resident of Yosemite Valley, noted instructor in the techniques of black and white photography which he gleaned from his years of working with Ansel Adams, and learning the Zone System from the master himself. Jeff has been an instructor for two California Junior Colleges, Modesto and Columbia, has led extension courses for UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, and taught and lectured in numerous seminars and classes. He has taught workshops and has had many showings nationwide, working with Morley Baer, Chris Rainier, Rod Dresser, and John Sexton...

Category

1980s American Impressionist Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Paper, Silver Gelatin

Harold E. Malde Vintage Photograph of Chetro Ketl Ruins, New Mexico
Harold E. Malde Vintage Photograph of Chetro Ketl Ruins, New Mexico

Harold E. Malde Vintage Photograph of Chetro Ketl Ruins, New Mexico

Located in Denver, CO

This vintage black and white photograph by Harold E. Malde (1923–2007) presents a compelling view of the Chetro Ketl Ruins in Nageezi, New Mexico, one of the most significant archite...

Category

Mid-20th Century Post-Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Photographic Film

Le Desert de Retz, Study 36, France

Le Desert de Retz, Study 36, France

By Michael Kenna

Located in Denton, TX

Edition of 45 Signed, titled, negative date, print date and numbered. Sepia toned gelatin silver Michael Kenna's black and white photographs are powerful and alluring. His imagery t...

Category

1980s Contemporary Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

"Beaver-Downed Cottonwood", Black & White Landscape
"Beaver-Downed Cottonwood", Black & White Landscape

"Beaver-Downed Cottonwood", Black & White Landscape

By Jeff Nixon

Located in Soquel, CA

Beautiful black and white landscape photograph titled "Beaver-Downed Cottonwood, Stanislaus" by Jeff Nixon (American, 20th Century). "Titled Beaver-Downed Cottonwood, Stanislaus" lower left and on verso. Signed "Jeff Nixon" lower right. Unframed. 15"H x 12"W. Photograph: 9.5"H x 8"W. Jeff Nixon began photographing in the late 1960's, and by the end of the millennium had acquired an impressive list of credentials; many years as a year round resident of Yosemite Valley, noted instructor in the techniques of black and white photography which he gleaned from his years of working with Ansel Adams, and learning the Zone System from the master himself. Jeff has been an instructor for two California Junior Colleges, Modesto and Columbia, has led extension courses for UC Santa Cruz and UC Berkeley, and taught and lectured in numerous seminars and classes. He has taught workshops and has had many showings nationwide, working with Morley Baer, Chris Rainier, Rod Dresser, and John Sexton...

Category

1980s Realist Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Paper, Silver Gelatin

Juniper at Lake Tenaya, 1937

Juniper at Lake Tenaya, 1937

By Edward Weston

Located in Carmel-by-the-Sea, CA

Titled with artist's reference number on back of mount. Stamped, 'Edward Weston printed by' and signed by Cole Weston on back of mount. Inscribed by Cole Weston.

Category

20th Century Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Sadakichi's Docks, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

Sadakichi's Docks, Otaru, Hokkaido, Japan

By Michael Kenna

Located in Denton, TX

Edition of 45 Signed, titled, negative date, print date and numbered by Michael Kenna Sepia toned gelatin silver print Michael Kenna's black and white photographs are powerful and a...

Category

21st Century and Contemporary Contemporary Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Buddhist Grave Markers and Rainbow, Maui, Hawaii
Buddhist Grave Markers and Rainbow, Maui, Hawaii

Ansel AdamsBuddhist Grave Markers and Rainbow, Maui, Hawaii, 1956

$12,000Sale Price|20% Off

H 15.625 in W 19.625 in

Buddhist Grave Markers and Rainbow, Maui, Hawaii

By Ansel Adams

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount with BMFA 11 stamp, title and date in ink on the back of the mount. An inventory number in pencil on the back ...

Category

1950s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Bare Trees By River
Bare Trees By River

Bare Trees By River

By Roman Loranc

Located in Carmel, CA

Hand printed by Roman Loranc Signed in pencil on recto. Signed, titled, dated and edition S/P on verso. Mat and photo in mint condition. Beautiful toning.

Category

20th Century Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Jerusalem, Israel Western Wall Ed of 5 Vintage Silver gelatin Photograph Print
Jerusalem, Israel Western Wall Ed of 5 Vintage Silver gelatin Photograph Print

Jerusalem, Israel Western Wall Ed of 5 Vintage Silver gelatin Photograph Print

By Mikael Levin

Located in Surfside, FL

Photo Image taken in black & white of Western Wall (Wailing Wall) Kotel Hamaaravi in Jerusalem Israel. Hand signed, dated and titled. From very small edition of just 5 prints. (American-Israeli) Born in New York City, Mikael Levin grew up in Israel, the United States and France. He attended Williams College and received a B.A. in Film and Photography from Hampshire College in 1976 before studying at the Academy of Fine Arts in Stockholm. Levin's first published project was Silent Passage (1985), a series of romantic, reflective landscape photographs inspired by a pond in Sweden. This was followed by several other series, including Les Quatre Saisons du Territoire, a study of the changes in land use in western France; Borders, which focused on the political, practical, and conceptual transformation of national borders in contemporary Europe; and War Story, Levin's reconstruction of the journey his father, the war correspondent Meyer Levin, made while traveling with the photographer Eric Schwab during World War II. Meyer Levin wrote of these experiences in In Search (1950), which described his view of the final battles of World War II and the liberation of the Nazi concentration camps in 1944-45. Levin photographed sites his father and Schwab had visited as they appear today. These photographs and passages from the elder Levin's writings formed an installation work at ICP in 1997, and were also published as a book. Levin's most recent project, Common Places: Cultural Identity in the Urban Environment, considers the relationship between the past and present in the urban environments of four European cities: Katrineholm, Cambrai, Erfurt, and Thessaloniki. Although inflected differently in each series, Mikael Levin's photographs have in common their interest in the emotional, intellectual, and historical significance of landscape. His work ignites landscape's capacity simultaneously to recall and overwrite the events of the past, especially in works such as War Story and Common Places. His photographs represent a new approach to landscape photography that reinvigorates this traditional genre. Lisa Hostetler Handy et al. Reflections in a Glass Eye: Works from the International Center of Photography Collection, New York: Bulfinch Press in association with the International Center of Photography, 1999 Mikael Levin has been exhibited widely in the US and in Europe, including solo exhibitions at the Jewish Museum, Paris, 2010, the Berardo Museum, Lisbon, 2009, the Bibliotheque Nationale, Paris, 2003, the International Center of Photography, New York, 1997, and Fundación Mendoza, Caracas, 1980. His work was included in the Venice Biannual in 2003. Judaic, Judaica. SELECT GROUP EXHIBITS 2018 Marquee Projects...

Category

Early 2000s Post-Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

Copacabana Beach, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

By Michael Kenna

Located in Denton, TX

Edition of 45 Signed, titled, negative date, print date, and numbered. Sepia toned gelatin silver print Michael Kenna's black and white photographs are powerful and alluring. Hi...

Category

20th Century Contemporary Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Reflecting Stream, Redding, Connecticut
Reflecting Stream, Redding, Connecticut

Reflecting Stream, Redding, Connecticut

By Paul Caponigro

Located in Carmel, CA

Hand printed by Paul Caponigro. Mint Condition. Signed in pencil on recto. Additionally signed in pencil on mat under dry mounted photograph.

Category

1960s Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Previously Available Items
Untitled ("Motion-Sound" Landscape)

Untitled ("Motion-Sound" Landscape)

By Ralph Eugene Meatyard

Located in New York, NY

From a portfolio of ten gelatin silver prints from original Meatyard negatives (1959-71) Printed April 1974 Edition of 130 Credit stamp, verso 7 x 7 inches, image 15 x 12 inches, mou...

Category

Late 20th Century American Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Ralph Eugene Meatyard landscape photography for sale on 1stDibs.

Find a wide variety of authentic Ralph Eugene Meatyard landscape photography available for sale on 1stDibs. You can also browse by medium to find art by Ralph Eugene Meatyard in silver gelatin print and more. Not every interior allows for large Ralph Eugene Meatyard landscape photography, so small editions measuring 12 inches across are available. Customers who are interested in this artist might also find the work of and Mikael Levin. Ralph Eugene Meatyard landscape photography prices can differ depending upon medium, time period and other attributes. On 1stDibs, the price for these items starts at $3,300 and tops out at $3,300, while the average work can sell for $3,300.