Signs, Photographs by Jim Dow

"I never traveled around the United States to find myself. Leaving familiar confines is an outward-facing process best done by car on older two-or three-lane roads, stopping, looking, and listening, every step of the way."

American Photographer Jim Dow (born 1942) is renowned for photographs that depict the built environment and for his skill at conveying the "human ingenuity and spirit" that suffuses the spaces.

This book, which accompanies the exhibition Signs: Photographs by Jim Dow (on view in the Photography Galleries May 7th - October 9th, 2022) is the first to focus on Dow's early black & white pictures. It features more than 60 photographs made between 1967 and 1977 on numerous cross-country road trips. Indebted to the work of Walker Evans, these photographs depict time-worn signage taken from billboards, diners, gas stations, drive-ins, and other small businesses. This book features many never-before published works, and an essay by Dow that addresses the way these formative years honed his artistic sensibility.

 April M Watson, PH.D.  Curator, Photography.

Hardcover $50.00

Published by The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art

2022 | 119 Pages | 11" x 11"