1977
Ektacolor print photograph
3 1/4 x 4 7/8 in
Smith College Museum of Art
1988:45-1
Purchased with the gift of the Smith College Museum of Art Visiting Committee in honor of Charles Chetham

In this photograph, William Christenberry offers the viewer an unconventional landscape. The chosen composition seems spontaneous; the projecting corn sign and telephone pole break the rules of a traditional landscape. The form and colors of the corn-on-the-cob is echoed in the intersecting rusting tank behind it. Like much of post-war middle America, the banal location derives meaning through its signs; Christenberry captures an oasis of memory within a landscape of potentially endless farms. Symbolically, the items in the photo have deep links to the American midwest. Corn is an agricultural staple, the tank is a mark of industry, and the Coca-Cola sign is an icon of American culture. The dark clouds of an approaching storm add an ominous atmosphere to the scene. The rusted, time-worn quality of the structures underscores the passing of time and the frailty of life.

-Elizabeth Gouin


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