Skip to main content
It feels so good to be in my private world - Image 1
It feels so good to be in my private world - Image 2

Jim Goldberg

It feels so good to be in my private world

1982, printed 1984

Thumbnail 1
Thumbnail 2
Scroll

Jim Goldberg

It feels so good to be in my private world

1982, printed 1984

Physical Qualities Gelatin silver print, Sheet: 355 x 278 mm. (14 x 10 15/16 in.)
Portfolio/Series From the series "Rich and Poor"
Credit Line Gift of George H. Dalsheimer, Baltimore
Object Number 1998.196
Using his camera as a tool for social activism, Jim Goldberg has dedicated his career to documenting marginalized populations, including homeless teenagers, the elderly, and refugees. His inclusion of his subjects’ handwritten comments brought a novel element to the tradition of documentary photography. From 1977 to 1984, Goldberg photographed people from two groups in San Francisco: residents of a transient hotel and an art school’s trustees (and their family members). While the dramatic contrast in their environments illustrates the vast difference in the two groups’ financial means, the subjects’ expressions and highly personal confessions suggest a mutual feeling of loneliness. Goldberg’s 1975 book Rich and Poor compiled the resulting pictures. In the afterword to his book, Goldberg described himself as a “translator” and wrote of his hope that by sharing stories such as these, society could break down the myths that divide it.
The Baltimore Museum of Art by gift, 1998; George H. Dalsheimer, Baltimore
Kristen Hileman, BMA. "Seeing now: Photography Since 1960," February 20-May 15, 2011.
Rich and Poor: Photographs by Jim Goldberg, New York: Random House, 1985, ill. section 2, 45th unnumbered page

Inscribed: lower right verso in graphite: "Jim Goldberg 1982/84"; lower left verso in graphite: "114"; upper right verso in graphite: "JG.034.2"

Artist

Jim Goldberg

American, born 1953

American, born 1953
Meet Jim Goldberg

Explore the Collection Further

BY SAME ARTIST
Etienne Delaune and Jean Delaune
Share with the Poor the Goods of This World for Reward in the Other
1580
Etienne Delaune and Jean Delaune
The Goods of the World are Useful Only to Those Who Know How to Use Them
1580
Honoré Daumier
The Chevalier des Adrets is the lover of a woman of the world. He is amiable and fervent, he pretends to be passionate and devoted... one day, an alleged bailiff and an alleged bill of exchange fall like a clap of thunder into the midst of the most tender effusion of feeling... "Oh! My God!! The Baron de Wormspire, a so-called friend, has had the impudence to have me thrown into prison... He's ruined my good fortune, separated me from what I love! Oh! Friends!! What are friends?... There's no such thing as a friend!!!..." The poor woman, poor dupe, casts off her jewels, gives him everything she can, borrows, ruins herself, only to discover too late that her knight is only a knight of industry, a right Robert Macaire.
1838