Collection Summary
Harry Ransom Center, The University of Texas at Austin
Meatyard, Ralph Eugene,
1925-1972
Ralph Eugene Meatyard Photography
Collection
1964-1972
Six photographs
The collection consists of six
black-and-white photographs taken by Ralph Eugene Meatyard between 1964 and
1972.
English
Photography Collection
PH-02566
Acquisition:
2015:0001:0001-0005: Purchased with funds provided by the Charles and Elizabeth
Prothro Endowment in Photography and Marlene Nathan Meyerson, 2015 (15-01-001-P).
2014:00001:0001: Purchased with funds provided by the Charles and Elizabeth Prothro
Endowment in Photography, 2014 (14-01-011-P).
Access:
Open for research.
Processed by:
Deborah Marks, 2017
Biographical Sketch
Ralph Eugene Meatyard was born in Normal, Illinois, on May 15, 1925. During World War
II, Meatyard served stateside with the U.S. Navy and studied at Williams College. In
1949, he obtained an optometry license. The following year, Meatyard moved to
Lexington, Kentucky, and purchased his first camera to photograph his newborn son.
By 1954, he had joined the Lexington Camera Club, where he met Van Deren Coke, and
the Photographic Society of America. Two years later, Coke included works by
Meatyard in an exhibition at the University of Kentucky. The exhibit, entitled
Creative Photography – 1956, also featured
photographs by Ansel Adams, Edward Weston, Aaron Siskind, and Harry Callahan, among
others. Meatyard had his first solo show at Tulane University in 1959, the same year
Aperture ran a feature article on his work. A
proudly self-proclaimed “amateur,” Meatyard continued to work full-time as an
optician, focusing on his photography only during weekends. Meatyard was a voracious
reader who counted numerous writers and poets among his friends, including Guy
Davenport, Wendell Berry, Hugh Kenner, and Thomas Merton. In 1970, Meatyard was
diagnosed with cancer; he died in Lexington, Kentucky, on May 7, 1972.
Sources:
Blumberg, Naomi. “Ralph Eugene Meatyard, American Photographer and Optician.” In
Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Encyclopaedia Britannica,
Inc., May 01, 2016. Accessed October 19, 2016.
https://www.britannica.com/biography/Meatyard-Ralph-Eugene
Fisher, Meredith. “Ralph Eugene Meatyard,” International Center of Photography,
Accessed October 19, 2016.
https://www.icp.org/browse/archive/constituents/ralph-eugene-meatyard?all/all/all/all/0
Scope and Contents
The collection consists of six gelatin silver prints taken by Ralph Eugene Meatyard
(American, 1925-1972) between 1964 and 1972. The prints are arranged in
chronological order. Five photographs, which feature a masked child, form a
pentaptych; masks, children, and staged settings are key elements in many of
Meatyard’s works. A landscape from his
Motion Sound
series further demonstrates Meatyard’s use of blur and multiple exposures to create
mysterious abstract photographic images.
The Ransom Center holds additional photographs by Ralph Eugene Meatyard in
Portfolio Three: The Works of Ralph Eugene Meatyard
(PH-02648); the Guy Davenport Literary File Photography Collection (PH-02665, see
2014:009:001-0038); the Parker Tyler Literary File Photography Collection (PH-02656,
see 975:0090:0003); and the Edward Dahlberg Literary File Photography Collection
(PH-02655, see 985:0009:0003).
Index Terms
Subjects
Disguises.
Masks.
Photography--20th century.
Photography, Artistic--20th
century.
Document Types
Black & white
photographs.
Gelatin silver
prints--1950-1980.
Item List
Meatyard, R.E., Box 6
2015:0001:0001a
Untitled,
1964.
Gelatin silver print, 14.5 x 17.4 cm (image); 27.9 x
22.8 cm (mount).
Meatyard, R.E., Box 6
2015:0001:0001b
Untitled,
1964.
Gelatin silver print, 14.8 x 17.4 cm (image); 27.9 x
22.8 cm (mount).
Meatyard, R.E., Box 6
2015:0001:0001c
Untitled,
1964.
Gelatin silver print, 14.8 x 17.4 cm (image); 27.9 x
22.8 cm (mount).
Meatyard, R.E., Box 6
2015:0001:0001d
Untitled,
1964.
Gelatin silver print, 14.5 x 17.4 cm (image); 27.9 x
22.8 cm (mount).
Meatyard, R.E., Box 6
2015:0001:0001e
Untitled,
1964.
Gelatin silver print, 14.6 x 17.4 cm (image); 27.9 x
22.8 cm (mount).
Meatyard, R.E., Box 4
2014:0001:0001
Motion-Sound #28,
1968-1972.
Gelatin silver print, 17 x 17 cm (image); 29.2 x 24.3
cm (mount).