The Cleveland Museum of Art

Collection Online as of March 29, 2024

Cheese and Crackers

Cheese and Crackers

1936
(American, 1896–1958)
Image: 36.6 x 28.6 cm (14 7/16 x 11 1/4 in.); Paper: 41.2 x 33.2 cm (16 1/4 x 13 1/16 in.); Matted: 55.9 x 45.7 cm (22 x 18 in.)
Location: not on view

Description

From his earliest days as a photographer, Outerbridge enjoyed experimenting with the still life, a traditional genre that he believed offered the widest opportunity for creativity. His two images on view here were probably created as ads or editorial layouts for popular magazines. The Kitchen Table has a color bar at the bottom as an aid for printing a reproduction. Outerbridge also exhibited images like this in art museums. His highly ordered, geometric arrangements of objects offered the viewer a calm, ordered world of abundance and enjoyment at a time when hunger and homelessness were afflicting the country. These lifestyles were out of reach for many Americans, but fantasizing while thumbing through a magazine was free.
  • Sims, Lowery Stokes. The persistence of geometry: form, content, and culture in the collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2006. no. 75, p. 119
    Cleveland Museum of Art, Tom E Hinson. Catalogue of Photography. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 1996. Reproduced: P. 264
  • From Riches to Rags: American Photography in the Depression. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (August 13-December 31, 2017).
    Paul Outerbridge: Command Performance. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, CA (organizer) (March 31-August 9, 2009).
    The Persistence of Geometry: Form, Content and Culture in the Collection of the Cleveland Museum of Art. Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (MOCA), Cleveland, OH (June 9-August 20, 2006).
    The Precisionist Aesthetic in American Art. The Cleveland Museum of Art, Cleveland, OH (organizer) (January 24-April 9, 1989).
    Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Conservation Center for Art and Historic Artifacts, October 26, 1982.
    Paul Outerbridge: A Singular Aesthetic: Photographs & Drawings, 1921-1941: A Catalogue Raisonné. Laguna Beach Museum of Art, Laguna Beach, CA (November 21, 1981-January 10, 1982). catalogue no. 393.
  • {{cite web|title=Cheese and Crackers|url=false|author=Paul Outerbridge|year=1936|access-date=29 March 2024|publisher=Cleveland Museum of Art}}

Source URL:

https://www.clevelandart.org/art/1942.1165