Swimmer, Lido Theater
John L. Murphy
Photography
Using Coney Island as a setting, the photographer John Murphy created tableaux that captured the bleakness of the lives of fictional sideshow and carnival people. Here, a woman straddling a wooden chair faces a painted banner advertising her act at Coney Island’s Lido Theater, which closed in the 1970s. The contrast between her former glory as a performer and her current reality, emphasized by the empty room, is stark.
MEDIUM
Gelatin silver print
DATES
1986; printed 1990
DIMENSIONS
sheet: 19 3/4 × 15 3/4 in. (50.2 × 40 cm)
image: 16 1/2 × 13 3/4 in. (41.9 × 34.9 cm)
SIGNATURE
Signed verso lower right edge in graphite: "John L. Murphy 1990"
ACCESSION NUMBER
1991.167.1
CREDIT LINE
Frank Sherman Benson Fund
MUSEUM LOCATION
This item is not on view
RECORD COMPLETENESS
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