Untitled (Wooden virgin - Cloisters, NY?)

1966

Paul Caponigro

(American, 1932-)

America

gelatin silver print made from Polaroid Positive/Negative Film Type 55

Paper: 15.9 x 13.1 cm (6 1/4 x 5 3/16 in.)

Gift of George Stephanopoulos 2015.264

Location: not on view

This artwork is known to be under copyright.

Did You Know?

This sculpture, made around 1475–1500 and attributed to Italian sculptor Paolo Aquilano, shows the Virgin Mary looking down tenderly, most likely at the Christ child in a nativity scene.

Description

Paul Caponigro photographed this in the Cloisters, part of New York’s Metropolitan Museum of Art. He shot it in much the same way he portrayed his wife in an untitled photograph made the same year (also in Cleveland’s collection, 2014.646). Caponigro shot from below looking up and at a slight angle, framing their heads against plain backgrounds, and emphasizing the highlights and shadows playing over their faces. He makes the woman look almost like a statue, and the statue like a living woman.