Bea Nettles
Swan Dream

Swan Dream

© 1971 Bea Nettles

Swan Dream
Swan Dream
ArtistAmerican, born 1946
CultureAmerican
Titles
  • Swan Dream
Date1971
MediumGelatin silver print with collage and applied color
DimensionsOverall: 9 5/8 × 7 1/2 in. (24.4 × 19.1 cm)
Mount: 10 15/16 × 8 5/8 in. (27.8 × 21.9 cm)
Credit LineThe Target Collection of American Photography, museum purchase funded by Target Stores
Object number76.293
Not on view

Explore Further

Department
Photography
Object Type
Description


Since the late 1960s, Bea Nettles has been among the vanguard of photographers using alternative processes and mixed media. At the time, few textbooks or classes gave instruction on making photographs beyond standard black-and-white gelatin silver prints. Nettles said, “Because I had no clear directions to follow or was not given a demonstration, I broke the rules.” In Swan Dream, a collage of swans and a blurred self-portrait combine to create a surreal, otherworldly image. The couch and quilt have been hand-colored, further contributing to Nettles’s handmade aesthetic in this curious, dreamlike composition.              



ProvenanceThe artist, Urbana, Illinois; purchased by MFAH, 1976.
Exhibition History"New Realities: From Collage to Digital," The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, February 25 - May 11, 1998

"Target Collection of American Photography: A Century in Pictures",
The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston December 3 - February 25, 2007
Austin Museum of Art May 19 - August 12, 2007
Art Museum of South Texas, Corpus Christi June 5 - August 24, 2008
Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks
Inscribed in pencil, mount verso, bottom center: Swan dream… Nettles 10-71

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

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

Swan (Song) Dream
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.10
Untitled (Gulls)
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.4
Underworld Series. Judgement
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.9
Ostrich
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.7
San Juan Cliff March
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.8
Falcon
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.5
Chickens
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.6
Lady and the American Eagle
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.3
Gulls Chasing Nude
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collage on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.680.2
B. and the Birds
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Gelatin silver print collages on paper with graphite and applied color in mylar sleeves with stitching in blue binder
2022.680.1-.10
Lady Legs-2
Bea Nettles
1970
Gelatin silver print collage in mylar sleeve with stitching
2022.665
Leda
Bea Nettles
1970/1971, printed 1970/1971
Artist’s book of collages
2022.680.1