Untitled
This wiki does not host exhibition photographs — each is copyrighted by its photographer or estate. See the image policy.
The story
Drawn from research/photographs/photo-0002.md — the canonical research note. Provenance and primary-source documentation live there; this is the reader-friendly summary.
Subject and context
Per the Master Checklist, the photograph opens Section 1, “Prologue,” immediately following the Lick Observatory image at plate #1 and preceding (skipping the checklist’s gap at #5) a second Bullock plate at #6. Caption 1 (Carl Sandburg, “There is only one man in the world…”) is installed after plate #11A. No subject description is given by the checklist itself; secondary literature commonly attributes this plate to Bullock’s 1954 work Let There Be Light, but that identification was not verified against any Tier-1/2 source fetched this round.
Reception / analysis
Not written this round. Interpretive readings belong in research/reception.md once the plate-to-work identification is primary-verified.
Perspective notes
- Curatorial (MoMA 1955): the plate functions as a Prologue “opening view” paired with the observatory image.
- Critical / photo-historical: Bullock is commonly situated in the West Coast landscape tradition (Weston, Adams, et al.) in secondary photo-history literature; this framing was not attested by any Tier-1/2 source fetched this round.
Open questions
- The photograph’s actual title (if any) is not attested by the Master Checklist; the “Let There Be Light” identification is secondary.
- Whether this plate corresponds to MoMA object 55534 has not been verified this round (MoMA collection page 403).
- The print’s physical location — whether it is among the Clervaux Castle holdings (CNA, Luxembourg) — was not verified this round (CNA page not fetched).
- The photograph’s date (1954) is repository-attributed, not checklist-attested.
Catalog notes
Checklist #2, Section 1 Prologue. Wynn Bullock, American. Print size 50 x 63 cm. Widely identified in secondary sources as Bullock’s ‘Let There Be Light’ (1954); the MoMA Master Checklist itself does not record a title or date. The MoMA permanent-collection record for Bullock’s ‘Let There Be Light’ is works/55534; identification with plate 2 is reported rather than verified plate-to-object.
src-moma-exh-0569-master-checklist