Matt Mahurin
Nicaragua

ArtistAmerican, born 1959
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Nicaragua
Date1987
PlaceEl Salvador
MediumGelatin silver print
DimensionsImage: 10 3/8 × 10 5/8 in. (26.4 × 26.9 cm)
Sheet: 15 7/8 × 13 1/16 in. (40.4 × 33.1 cm)
Credit LineGift of Mike and Mickey Marvins
Object number2013.728
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Special Collections
Object Type
DescriptionMatt Mahurin’s photograph of two boys holding hands was taken as part of a photo-essay on Nicaragua. Known for staged or manipulated scenes, Mahurin divorced his subjects from their surroundings in this photograph, removing the implicit photojournalistic content and presenting a seemingly universal narrative in its place. The photograph may show signs of hunger and poverty, widespread during the Sandinista regime and the Contra War, but it speaks to the powerful solidarity of a childhood friendship.
Provenance[Butterfield & Butterfield, sale 522M, lot 3512, after 1987]; purchased by Michael Marvins and Michele Marvins, Houston, after 1987; given to MFAH, 2013.
Exhibition History“A Photographer’s Collection: Gifts from Michael and Michele Marvins,” The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, April 4–July 5, 2015.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil lower right recto sheet:MM
Inscribed in pencil lower left recto sheet: 24/100
Inscribed on verso mount: Matt Mahurin, Children Holding Hands, El Salvador, Platinum Print, $1200.

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.

Untitled
Matt Mahurin
1983
Gelatin silver print
91.860
Pair of Deity Effigy Ornaments
900–200 BC
Bone
2010.898.1,.2
front of object
500–1600 AD
Gold
2010.1045.1,.2
Eagle Dancers
Awa Tsireh (Alfonso Roybal)
1921–1925
Tempera over graphite on paper board
44.269
Teenager Getting a Haircut, Frogtown
Wing Young Huie
1994
Gelatin silver print
2000.603
Lynn Davis
Robert Mapplethorpe
1979
Gelatin silver print
2002.1603
Pull My Daisy
Robert Frank
1959
Gelatin silver print
2000.468
Alfred Stieglitz -  Hands
Dorothy Norman
1930s
Gelatin silver print
97.591
Necklace
17th–19th century
Gold
2004.2305
Woman in a Blue Hat
Joel Peter Witkin
1985
Gelatin silver print with toning
99.561
Medicine Bottles, Chauncey, Ohio
Matt Eich
2007
Inkjet print
2011.260