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HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, (Japanese, b. 1948), CABOT STREET CINEMA, BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, signed, dated...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:10,000.00 - 15,000.00 USD
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO, (Japanese, b. 1948), CABOT STREET CINEMA, BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS, signed, dated...
HIROSHI SUGIMOTO
(Japanese, b. 1948)
CABOT STREET CINEMA, BEVERLY, MASSACHUSETTS
signed, dated and editioned in pencil on verso
gelatin silver print
image: 165/8 x 217/16 in. (42.2 54.5 cm)
paper: 20 x 24 in. (61 x 50.8 cm)
1979
this print is number 1 from an edition of 25
ESTIMATE: $10,000-15,000
PROVENANCE
From the artist, NEW YORK
EXHIBITED
MONTCLAIR, NEW JERSEY, Montclair Art Museum, CITY SCENES, September 27, 1997-January 4, 1998
LITERATURE
Hans Belting, HIROSHI SUGIMOTO: THEATERS, NEW YORK: Sonnabend Sundell Editions, 2000, p. 63 (illustrated)
Atsuko Koyanagi, ed., SUGIMOTO: PHOTOGRAPHS BY HIROSHI SUGIMOTO: DIORAMAS, THEATERS, SEASCAPES, Japan: Mitsumura, 1988, n.p. (illustrated)
Sugimoto's photographs of antiquated movie palaces address the passage of time with hauntingly beautiful results. Beginning in the late 1970s, Sugimoto consistently stationed himself at the farthest point from a given movie screen, often winding up in a balcony. He would then leave the lens of his 8 x 10 inch camera open for the duration of a screened film. Since a film's images are constantly changing, Sugimoto's camera only captures the extended emission of light. The results depict luminous white screens that illuminate the ornate interiors of each theater. With pictures such as the present work, Sugimoto challenges the expectation that photographs capture momentary slices of time. His photographs compress hours of experience into a single image.
The Cabot Street Cinema was built in 1920, as a venue for movies and theatrical productions. Its lavish interior included gold leaf, murals and sculptural decorations. The glow of the screen illuminates this lavish interior, but the viewer remains in the darkness, looking onto this otherworldly space from a distance.
This photograph, acquired directly from the artist, was the first print that he ever sold to an institution.