Basset Hound in Backyard, circa 1970s

Archive & AtlasEstablished · MMXXIII

Basset Hound in Backyard, circa 1970s — Archive & Atlas

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Basset Hound in Backyard, circa 1970s — Archive & Atlas

Unattributed 1968–1978

AA-2026-4C9AA1

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A basset hound stands in a modest suburban backyard, the kind of small fenced yard that in the 1970s represented the achieved American dream of private outdoor space, however compact. The dog wears a collar and has been posed for the camera with the stiffness of a subject who does not understand he is being photographed, his body at an angle that suggests the photographer has called him into position and he has stopped mid-wander to comply. Behind him the homeowner has arranged an outdoor garden with the earnest optimism that characterized the era: three potted flowering plants on stakes stand in a careful line against the pale blue painted house siding, while a few other plantings dot the perimeter with the spacing of someone following a gardening magazine's instructions. The grass is patchy and worn, the kind of lawn that gets walked on rather than maintained, and the whole scene has the temporal specificity of color film from an era when people still believed their everyday moments were worth recording. He looks as though he would rather be doing something else.

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