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My wife is acceptable - Image 1
My wife is acceptable - Image 2

Jim Goldberg

My wife is acceptable

1981, printed 1984

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Jim Goldberg

My wife is acceptable

1981, 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 1998.198
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
Gamynne Guillotte and Oliver Shell, Joseph Education Center, The Baltimore Museum of Art, "Imagining Home," November 9, 2016 - April 9, 2017.

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, 53rd unnumbered page

Inscribed: lower left verso in graphite: "119"; lower right verso in graphite: "Jim Goldberg 1981/84"; upper right verso in graphite: "JG.032.2"

Artist

Jim Goldberg

American, born 1953

American, born 1953
Meet Jim Goldberg

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