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Larry Sultan
Practicing Golf Swing, from the series Pictures from Home, 1986

Larry Sultan lived and worked in the Bay Area, but he was raised in the San Fernando Valley, and the suburban setting of his childhood surroundings retained a fascination for him. The decade-long project Pictures from Home took his own family as its subject. Sultan initially intended to focus on the effect on family relations when corporations slough off their no-longer-young executives, as happened to his father, Irving, shown here practicing his golf swing in the family den. In the end, however, the series, published as a book in 1992, explored photography’s role in creating a familial mythology. It included old family snapshots, stills from home movies, and his parents’ commentary on his version of their shared history.  

Artwork Info

Artwork title
Practicing Golf Swing, from the series Pictures from Home
Artist name
Larry Sultan
Date created
1986
Classification
photograph
Medium
chromogenic print
Dimensions
17 1/2 × 21 7/16 in. (44.5 × 54.5 cm)
Date acquired
1993
Credit
Collection SFMOMA
Purchase through a gift of Amy McCombs and Fred Currier
Copyright
© Estate of Larry Sultan
Permanent URL
https://www.sfmoma.org/artwork/93.228
Artwork status
Not on view at this time.

Photographer Larry Sultan describes his project Pictures from Home (1983–92), which explores the complexities of family life through photographs, home movies, and ephemera. He describes collaborating with his parents as a way to break down the barriers between reality and fiction and between public and private.

Other Works by Larry Sultan

See other works by Larry Sultan

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