Approximately 17 of 41 Sperm Whales that Beached and Subsequently Died, Florence, Oregon
Joel Sternfeld, Approximately 17 of 41 Sperm Whales that Beached and Subsequently Died, Florence, Oregon, 1979, dye coupler print, Gift of Elizabeth A. Swindells, © Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York, 92.208
This work is not currently on view.
- Title
Approximately 17 of 41 Sperm Whales that Beached and Subsequently Died, Florence, Oregon
- Artist
- Date
1979
- Medium
dye coupler print
- Edition
17/100
- Dimensions (H x W x D)
image: 15 15/16 in x 20 in; sheet: 19 15/16 in x 23 15/16 in
- Collection Area
Photography
- Category
Photographs
- Object Type
photograph
- Culture
American
- Credit Line
Gift of Elizabeth A. Swindells
- Accession Number
92.208
- Copyright
© Courtesy of the artist and Luhring Augustine, New York
- Terms
- Place Made
Created in and depicts: Oregon
Created in and depicts: Florence
During the late 1970s, Joel Sternfeld traveled throughout the United States with his 8 x 10 view camera, observing and recording the sometimes chaotic intersections of human beings and nature. In the late spring of 1979, Sternfeld witnessed the highly unusual oceanic calamity in which forty-one sperm whales became stranded along the shoreline in Florence, Oregon. Though attempts were made to return some to the water, all died. Sternfeld"s composition, which emphasizes the expansive beach and overcast sky rather than the whales, is surprisingly understated, allowing viewers to unobtrusively contemplate the indescribable scene.
- Exhibitions
2012 70 Years/70 Photographs Portland Art Museum
2013 Fierce: Animal Life from the Collection Portland Art Museum
