Bill Owens
I don't feel that Richie playing with guns will have a negative effect on his personality.

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Artist Bill OwensAmerican, born 1938

CultureAmerican

Titles

I don't feel that Richie playing with guns will have a negative effect on his personality.

Date1971, printed 2008

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 13 1/8 × 10 1/8 in. (33.3 × 25.7 cm)
Sheet: 13 15/16 × 10 7/8 in. (35.4 × 27.6 cm)

Credit LineGift of the artist in memory of John Cleary

Object number2008.414

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionRichie
Ferguson sits astride his Big Wheel, scowling, gun in hand, playing equal parts
neighborhood watch and outlaw. Few four-year-olds have looked quite so
menacing. The title for this photograph comes directly from one of Richie’s
parents, who lived with their son in the San Francisco East Bay suburbs. Bill
Owens began photographing the area in the late 1960s for his Suburbia series,
which documented newly constructed housing developments and their colorful
residents. In these neighborhoods, Owens found individuals and families whose
often quirky outlooks on life strongly diverged from the uniform, placid homes
they inhabited.
ProvenanceThe artist, Hayward, California; given to MFAH, 2008.
Exhibition History"Remembering John Cleary," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, January 13–May 10, 2009.

"Always Greener: Seeing and Seeking Suburbia—Selections from the Museum’s Collection," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, August 21, 2018–February 3, 2019.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Marked in pencil, verso: "for the MFA / in memory of / John Cleary / Bill"

Signed in pencil, verso LR: "Bill Owens / 2008"

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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