Year: 1994
Medium: gelatin silver print
Dimensions: 42.2 x 54.3 cm (16 5/8 x 21 3/8 in.)
Edition: No. 8 of 25
Acquired from Sotheby’s, 2022
Among Sugimoto’s important early works is a series called “Dioramas,” which began with the artist capturing exhibited works at the American Museum of Natural History in New York as if they were actual landscapes. As part of the series, this work likely depicts an exhibited specimen from the Denver Museum of Nature and Science, featuring a manatee parent and child. Although this is partly due to the high quality of the diorama itself, if one were to look at Sugimoto’s work without prior knowledge, one would mistakenly assume that the photograph captures a pleasant scene from the ocean. Documented with the precision and vividness characteristic of a large format camera with 8 x 10-inch film, the resolution’s exactitude is more pronounced than the similar “Theaters” and “Seascapes” series. Sugimoto’s expression magically imbues life into inanimate things would also lead to the “Portraits” series featuring wax figures. The “Dioramas” series led to Sugimoto being represented by New York’s legendary Sonnabend Gallery. In addition, this series also gained recognition from John Szarkowski, MoMA’s renowned curator of photography in the 70s, leading to the museum adding it to the collection. Within the context of art history, Szarkowski played an extraordinarily significant role in propelling the status of photography as art; the fact that Szarkowski, with his discerning eye, praised the work is evidence that the photography of the then-emerging Sugimoto possessed value as art due to the skill and aesthetic sense that he had already developed.
