Gordon Matta-Clark
Conical Intersect

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Artist Gordon Matta-Clark American, 1945–1978

CultureAmerican

Titles

Conical Intersect

Date1975

MediumGelatin silver print

DimensionsImage: 10 5/8 × 15 9/16 in. (27 × 39.5 cm)
Sheet: 10 5/8 × 15 9/16 in. (27 × 39.5 cm)

Credit LineThe Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection

Object number91.887

Not on view

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Department

Photography

Special Collections

Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection

Object Type

PHOTOGRAPHS

DescriptionThis photograph
documents part of Gordon Matta-Clark’s interventions into the life cycle of cities and buildings. Treating built
environments as a subject to be deconstructed, he cut into the structures, then
filmed and photographed the process. In Conical Intersect, he cut the walls of
an 18th-century house in Paris. These acts were deemed both avant-garde and
provocative, which the artist called “anarchitecture,” as they subverted the
norm expected from an architect, which is to design and build structures.

During the brief but highly productive ten years
that he worked as an artist, and even more so since his death, Gordon
Matta-Clark has exerted a powerful influence on artists and architects who know
his work.
ProvenanceAllan Chasanoff, New York; given to MFAH, 1991.
Exhibition History"Tradition and the Unpredictable: The Allan Chasanoff Photographic Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston,January 16-March 27, 1994.

"Contemporary Art and Photography: Spotlight on the Collection of the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston," Museum of Fine ArtsHouston, September 30, 2001–February 3, 2002.

"Optical/Perceptual: Photographs from the Allan Chasanoff Collection," Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, Connecticut, October 6, 2008–January 4, 2009.

"Ruptures and Continuities: Photography Made after 1960 from the MFAH Collection," Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 21–May 9, 2010.
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

no apparent inscriptions

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