Standing Nude with Chair

In 1921, while a student at the Clarence White School of Photography in New York, Outerbridge was exposed to the Cubist theories of Arthur Wesley Dow, the Precisionist influences of Charles Sheeler and the early modernism of Paul Strand. Outerbridge assimilated his modernist and surrealist tendencies into a visual language that was uniquely his own. His carefully constructed images leave nothing to chance. Each element is painstakingly selected to acheive a highly controlled composition of line and form, shadow and light.

The female nude was one of Outerbridge's most important subjects, first explored in black and white and later in the carbro-color medium he helped to pioneer. His nudes of the 1920s, primarily in platinum, are not simply studies of the female form but finely orchestrated works with the nude as one of many elements in an abstract composition.

Outerbridge chose platinum initially for its rich tonal qualities. After the war, however, platinum papers were scarce and limited the number of prints he could produce. In addition, his meticulous printing habits further limited his production, so that very few prints survive of many images and, in some cases, less than a handful.

This print may be unique. No other prints were in the Estate at the time of Lois Cunningham Outerbridge's gift to the museum in 1968.