Artworks

PAUL OUTERBRIDGE (American, 1896 - 1958)

Outerbridge is best known for his pioneering work in color photography and his avant-garde use of compositional space. His photographic still-lifes, which drew from Cubism and Modern abstract painting, played an important role in defining the advertising aesthetic of the twentieth-century. Outerbridge also created a series of erotic nude photographs that were not shown during his lifetime.

He spent his life between New York City, and Los Angeles. Going against his father’s wishes, Outerbridge turned away from a traditional university education and began classes at the Art Students’ League in New York. It was here where Outerbridge met and assisted the theatrical stage designer Rollo Peters. This experience, as Outerbridge suggests, was formative to his photography, writing “I worked out a theory of my own for the painting of scenes with light alone”.

Outerbridge’s photographs were decades ahead of their time, he was a pioneer in the rigorous carbro-color process and would invest many hours to print a single photograph. His works have been exhibited and are represented in prominent collections, including Museum of Modern Art, New York; The Getty Museum, Los Angeles, California; The Metropolitan Museum, New York; The San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco; The Smithsonian Institution, Washington D.C.; The Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago; and the Los Angeles Museum of Art, Los Angeles.