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
4,350
956
901
865
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
Deer Creek, Yosemite
Deer Creek, Yosemite

Henry GilpinDeer Creek, Yosemite, 1989

$2,500

H 9.25 in W 7.625 in

Deer Creek, Yosemite

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the form of the mount with stamp and date on the back of the mount. Likely printed in the 1990s.

Category

1980s Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Winter Surf, Garrapata
Winter Surf, Garrapata

Morley BaerWinter Surf, Garrapata, 1966

$2,800

H 9.25 in W 7.625 in

Winter Surf, Garrapata

By Morley Baer

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This early contact print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount with the artist's stamp on the back of the mount. One of Morley Baer’s greatest seascapes, this image was taken...

Category

1960s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Tidal Rocks, Garrapata Rock Ledge
Tidal Rocks, Garrapata Rock Ledge

Tidal Rocks, Garrapata Rock Ledge

By Morley Baer

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount with Baer's studio stamp, numbering, title and date in pencil on the back of the mount.

Category

1960s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Doud Creek and Surf, Garrapata
Doud Creek and Surf, Garrapata

Doud Creek and Surf, Garrapata

By Morley Baer

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount with stamp, title and numbering on the back of the mount.

Category

1960s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Little Sur
Little Sur

Morley BaerLittle Sur, 1969

$1,800

H 7.375 in W 9.5 in

Little Sur

By Morley Baer

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This early silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount, with the artist's stamp, numbering and title in pencil in the artist's hand on the back of the mount. T...

Category

1960s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

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 and signed in pencil by Cole Weston with Edward Weston's facsimile signature on back of mount. Printed from the original negative by Cole Weston. Edward Weston, (1886 - 1958) Edward Weston was an American photographer, and co-founder of Group f/64. Most of his work was done using an 8 by 10 inch view camera. In 1902, he received his first camera for his sixteenth birthday, a Kodak Bull's-Eye #2, and began taking photographs in parks in Chicago and at his aunt's farm. The young Weston met with quick success, and his photographs were already being exhibited at the Chicago Art Institute merely a year later, in 1903. Weston worked mainly with nudes, still life - his shells and vegetable studies were especially important - and landscape subjects. After a few exhibitions of his works in New York, he went on to found Group f/64 in 1932 with fellow photographers Ansel Adams, Willard van Dyke...

Category

20th Century Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Vintage Black & White Photo by Harold E. Malde Mountain River Scene
Vintage Black & White Photo by Harold E. Malde Mountain River Scene

Vintage Black & White Photo by Harold E. Malde Mountain River Scene

Located in Denver, CO

This striking vintage black-and-white photograph by acclaimed American photographer Harold E. Malde (1923–2007) captures the raw energy and ephemeral beauty of spring in the mountain...

Category

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

Materials

Photographic Film

Cedar Fence, Pojoaque, New Mexico
Cedar Fence, Pojoaque, New Mexico

Cedar Fence, Pojoaque, New Mexico

By Ansel Adams

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This silver gelatin print is signed in pencil on the front of the mount. Post-BMFA 11 studio stamp with title in ink on the front of the mount. An inscription by Adams' assistant "Pr...

Category

1950s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Cloud, Jokulsarlon, Iceland
Cloud, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

Cloud, Jokulsarlon, Iceland

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This contact print on 60-year-old single-weight Azo was made in 2020. This print is one of five known. It is signed and dated in pencil on the front of the mount, with title on the b...

Category

Early 2000s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Lorraine - Willy Ronis, 20th Century, French Humanist Photography
Lorraine - Willy Ronis, 20th Century, French Humanist Photography

Lorraine - Willy Ronis, 20th Century, French Humanist Photography

By Willy Ronis

Located in Paris, FR

One of the famous members of the Humanist photography in France. Signed lower right. Stamp of the artist's studio on the back.

Category

1950s Contemporary Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Photographic Paper, Silver Gelatin

Trees in Snow, Highway 50, Sierras
Trees in Snow, Highway 50, Sierras

Trees in Snow, Highway 50, Sierras

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This beautiful vintage silver gelatin photograph is signed and dated in pencil on the front of the mount beneath the image. The artist's studio label bearing the title, numbering and...

Category

1990s Modern Ralph Eugene Meatyard Landscape Photography

Materials

Silver Gelatin

Mono Lake
Mono Lake

Brett WestonMono Lake, 1966

$10,000

H 7.625 in W 9.625 in

Mono Lake

By Brett Weston

Located in Pacific Grove, CA

This vintage contact print is signed and dated in pencil on the front of the mount. It is accompanied by a letter from Erica Weston, Brett Weston’s daughter, confirming that the prin...

Category

1960s Modern 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.