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A woman's legs and her feet, wearing high-heeled sandals, are juxtaposed against a boldly patterned bathroom floor. While giving us a peek into a private scene, this image’s mixture of photographic realism and flat, candy-box colors make it disconcerting. Created through a painstaking process, pictures like this begin as black-and-white images made with infra-red film. Maria Muller then applies thin layers of oil paint with cotton swabs, often purposely choosing colors that are unsettling and slightly “off.” Many of her photographs, either due to their coloration or how their imagery is sometimes mirrored or repeated, have a dream-like quality.
Black Sandals, Pink Toilet
Maria Muller (American (born in Germany, 1950))
1985
Medium/Technique
Photograph, infa-red print, hand colored
Dimensions
Image: 33 x 48.6 cm (13 x 19 1/8 in.)
Sheet: 40.4 x 50.3 cm (15 7/8 x 19 13/16 in.)
Sheet: 40.4 x 50.3 cm (15 7/8 x 19 13/16 in.)
Credit Line
Gift of Suzanne and Bernard Pucker in honor of Martin Gottlieb
Accession Number2001.433
CollectionsContemporary Art, Americas, Photography
ClassificationsPhotographs
A woman's legs and her feet, wearing high-heeled sandals, are juxtaposed against a boldly patterned bathroom floor. While giving us a peek into a private scene, this image’s mixture of photographic realism and flat, candy-box colors make it disconcerting. Created through a painstaking process, pictures like this begin as black-and-white images made with infra-red film. Maria Muller then applies thin layers of oil paint with cotton swabs, often purposely choosing colors that are unsettling and slightly “off.” Many of her photographs, either due to their coloration or how their imagery is sometimes mirrored or repeated, have a dream-like quality.
ProvenanceThe artist; Bernard and Suzanne Pucker, Boston, MA, 2000; gift June 2001.
CopyrightCourtesy of Pucker Gallery, Inc.