David Taylor
Monuments: 276 Views of the United States–Mexico Border

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Images(276)

Artist David Taylor(American, born 1965)American, born 1965

CultureAmerican

Titles

Monuments: 276 Views of the United States–Mexico Border

Date2007–2015, printed 2017

MediumInkjet prints

DimensionsImage (each): 11 × 14 11/16 in. (27.9 × 37.3 cm)
Sheet (each): 13 × 17 in. (33 × 43.2 cm)

Credit LineMuseum purchase funded by the Caroline Wiess Law Accessions Endowment

Object number2017.225.1-.276

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionOver nearly a decade, David Taylor sought out and photographed all 276 boundary
markers that delineate the 690 miles of U.S.-Mexico border that stretches from
the Rio Grande to the Pacific Ocean, crossing valleys and mountains and cutting
through cities and towns. Some of the 19th-century obelisk markers stand
alongside tall steel and concrete barriers; others next to simple cattle
fences, strings of barbed wire, or dirt roads; and still others in open countryside.
Little could Taylor have imagined at the outset that, as his project reached
completion, the territory he photographed would be so fraught with political,
economic, and social tension.
ProvenanceThe artist; [Rick Wester Fine Art, New York]; purchased by MFAH, 2017.
Exhibition History"Frontier/Frontera," Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, Ridgefiield, Connecticut, 2009.

"Working the Line," New Mexico History Museum/Palace of the Governors, Santa Fe, 2010; Ballroom Marfa/Crowley Theater, Marfa, Texas, 2010; El Paso Museum of Art, 2011.

"276 Views of the United States - Mexico Border," Colorado Canter for Photographic Arts, Denver, 2013.

"Working the Line," David Rockefeller Center for Latin American Studies, Harvard University, Boston, 2013.

"Monuments and DeLIMITations," Nevada Musuem of Art, Reno, 2015.

"Here and Abroad: Photographs by David Taylor," Phoenix Art Museum, May 28–October 16, 2016. (Different set).

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, December 6, 2017–February 4, 2018.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

[numbered on the verso of each print]

Catalogue raisonné

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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