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Byrd, Richmond (Primary Title)

Hiroshi Sugimoto, Japanese, born 1948 (Artist)

1993
Japanese
Photographs
Works On Paper
Gelatin silver print
Modern and Contemporary Art
Sheet: 20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 60.96 cm)
Framed: 25 7/8 × 32 7/8 in. (65.72 × 83.5 cm)
96.93
Not on view

“Memory and replica . . . Photography is a system of saving memories. It’s a time-machine, a way to preserve the memory.” —Hiroshi Sugimoto

Since the early 1970s, when Sugimoto left Japan for the United States, he has kept his subjects to a small number. In series of closely related images, he explores the fine line between the real and unreal, and the visible and invisible.

Byrd, Richmond belongs to a series of empty interiors in pre-World War II movie theaters. In this image of the Byrd Theatre, located just two blocks from VMFA, ornate décor frames a blank glowing screen—an effect achieved by leaving the shutter of the traditional box camera open during the full movie. Pure light, a much as vanishing Depression-era architecture, proves to be the subject.

number 7 from edition of 25
Stamped across bottom border: "Byrd, Richmond 1993 7/25 264"
Gift of the Collectors' Circle of the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts
The Fleeting Glimpse: Selections in Modern and Contemporary Photography from the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, The Eleanor D. Wilson Museum, Hollins University, Roanoke, VA, September 16 - December 4, 2010

Picture This, Virginia Museum of Fine Arts, Richmond, VA, March 8 - May 25, 1997

(Sonnabend Gallery, New York); Purchased by The Collector's Circle, Richmond, Virginia in December of 1996; Gift to Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA), Richmond, Virginia in December of 1996.
© Hiroshi Sugimoto

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