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O. WINSTON LINK, (American, 1943-2001), SOMETIMES THE ELECTRICITY FAILS, VESUVIUS, VIRGINIA, "Pri...

Currency:USD Category:Everything Else / Other Start Price:NA Estimated At:2,500.00 - 4,500.00 USD
O. WINSTON LINK, (American, 1943-2001), SOMETIMES THE ELECTRICITY FAILS, VESUVIUS, VIRGINIA,  Pri...
O. WINSTON LINK
(American, 1943-2001)
SOMETIMES THE ELECTRICITY FAILS, VESUVIUS, VIRGINIA
"Printed by O. Winston Link + Conchita 2-88" inscribed in pencil on verso
2 artist's copyright stamps on verso
gelatin silver print
image: 153/8 x 193/8 in. (39.1 x 49.2 cm)
paper: 157/8 x 197/8 in. (40.3 x 50.5 cm)
1955-1960
printed 1988
ESTIMATE: $2,500-4,500
<p>PROVENANCE
Christie's New York, April 24, 1990, Lot 414
Private Collection, New York
<p>LITERATURE
O. Winston Link, GHOST TRAINS: RAILROAD PHOTOGRAPHS OF THE 1950s, Norfolk, Virginia, Chrysler Museum, 1983, p. 21, cat. no. NW1122
(illustrated)
O. Winston Link, STEAM, STEEL & STARS, New York, Abrams, 1987, p. 60 (illustrated)
O. Winston Link was obsessed with the steam train, a symbol of America's industrial progress. As the steam train was replaced by the diesel engine throughout the 1950s, Link wished to document its significance within the social fabric of small-town America. Working at night with a battery of powerful flash lamps that create a surreal glow, Link staged scenes along the Norfolk and Western Railway. The speed of the background locomotive opposes the stasis of small-town American life. The image's caption in STEAM, STEEL & STARS reads: "W. A. Miller mans the old gravity-flow gas pump at the Vesuvius General Store, as No. 2 goes up the valley. Posing in Link's convertible are Bob Cullen and Jane Groah, who later married. Vesuvius was named for an iron furnace that operated there from 1828 to 1854."