The Girl with a Gun

Lynn Hyman Butler

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Object Label

For her series Coney Island Kaleidoscope, Lynn Hyman Butler photographed while in motion “to capture the sense of time passing.” The resulting effect produces dreamscapes saturated with color: riderless kiddie horses hypnotically glide in The Red Horse; a teenager holds either a toy gun or the real thing in The Girl with a Gun.

Butler wants her photographs to serve as reminders that “the decision of whether to save or relinquish landscapes such as these will be of increasing urgency.” The nighttime scene behind the gun-toting girl features neon signs for the famous El Dorado Carousel, the Wonder Wheel, and the Cyclone, which alert the viewer to the potential dangers of demolition and development — to what can still be lost.

Caption

Lynn Hyman Butler American, born 1953. The Girl with a Gun, ca. 1988. Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome), image: 9 x 13 1/4 in. (22.9 x 33.7 cm) sheet: 11 x 13 3/4 in. (27.9 x 34.9 cm). Brooklyn Museum, Gift of Ilford Photo Corporation, 1991.59.6. © artist or artist's estate (Photo: Brooklyn Museum, 1991.59.6_PS4.jpg)

Gallery

Not on view

Collection

Photography

Title

The Girl with a Gun

Date

ca. 1988

Medium

Silver dye bleach print (Cibachrome)

Classification

Photograph

Dimensions

image: 9 x 13 1/4 in. (22.9 x 33.7 cm) sheet: 11 x 13 3/4 in. (27.9 x 34.9 cm)

Signatures

Signed bottom verso in pencil: "Lynn Hyman Butler 4/25"

Credit Line

Gift of Ilford Photo Corporation

Accession Number

1991.59.6

Rights

© artist or artist's estate

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