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Comments Posted 10.14.12 | PERMALINK | PRINT

John Foster

Accidental Mysteries, 10.14.12


Nighttime has always held a powerful and integral place in the arts. Literature abounds with the metaphor of night. Writers and poets use the dark as a foil for mystery, intrigue, evil and as a contrast to light in all its forms. Visual artists — painters and photographers stalk the night for sublime and dramatic contrasts. It is where film noir resides, with loneliness, fear, and the unknown its comfortable companion. With midnight called “the witching hour,” it’s no wonder it’s the preferred time that goblins and haints awaken for their work.

Nocturnes
Dan Witz; Highland Park, IL. 2006 oil and mixed media on canvas, 38 x 52 inches

Nocturnes
Dan Witz: J&J Liquor, 2005, oil and mixed media on canvas, 44 x 68 inches

Nocturnes
Todd Hido: Title: 7373, 2009, chromogenic print

Nocturnes
Todd Hido: Title: 2045, 1997, chromogenic print

Nocturnes
Robert Doisneau, La Fuite des Maries, 1951, gelatin silver print

Nocturnes
E.O. Hoppe, Middletown in the Snow, Connecticut, 1926, Vintage silver gelatin print, 9-1/4 x 7-1/4 inches

Nocturnes
Weegee, The Critic, 1943, silver gelatin print

Nocturnes
Dan Kukla, The Edge Effect, chromogenic print

Nocturnes
Robert Joshua Bingaham, Excelsior Pile, 2010, acrylic on linen, 42 x 54 inches

Nocturnes
O. Winston Link, Hot Shot East Bound at Laeger, West Virginia, 1956, 16 x 20 inches, silver print

Nocturnes
Bryan Haynes, Winter, acrylic on canvas, 20010

Nocturnes
Spc. Lee Davis, U.S. Army photo, 2003, Fallujah 

Nocturnes
Jay Mug, Castelmezzano, Italy, digital photograph

Nocturnes
Maxfield Parrish (1870-1966), A Venetian’s Night Entertainment, 1903, oil on canvas

Nocturnes
Leonard Koscianski, Good Bad Dog, 2008, Oil on canvas, 45 ¼ x 67 inches

Nocturnes
Jay Mug, DC Character Poster, The Dark Knight, 16 x 24 inches, digital print

Nocturnes
Bob Staake, Reflection, The New Yorker, November 17, 2008

Nocturnes
Mike Noland, War, Oil on Canvas, 46 x 38 inches

Nocturnes
Charles Burns, "Big Baby: Teen Plague page 14," 1989, Ink on paper, 14 1/2 x 14 3/8 inches

Nocturnes
Bill Steber, Mississippi Delta Series, Black and White Photograph, 2010

Nocturnes
Michael Kenna, Empire State Building, Study 4, New York, 2007, toned silver print, 8 x 7.75 inches

Nocturnes
Eduard J. Steichen: The Flatiron, 1905. Photogravure, 12½ x 10¼ inches, Mount: 20 x 16 inches
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR

John Foster and his wife, Teenuh, have been longtime collectors of self-taught art and vernacular photography. Their collection of anonymous, found snapshots has toured the country for five years and has been featured in Harper’s, Newsweek Online and others.
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