Robert H. Cumming (American, 1943- )

Robert Cumming's work explores photography's claim to truth telling. He has a background in sculpture and uses his skills to "construct" the subject matter of his photographs. His themes include interruptions in landscape and logic, the reappraisal of everyday objects, ironic reversals of the expected, illusionism and magic, and sardonic commentaries on photography and art. Central to his work is his desire to remind us that we are looking at a photograph, and not at the thing being photographed. His captions sometimes draw on a photograph's narrative aspects or are used to mislead the viewer.
- Patricia Schaefer

Selected Bibliography
Coke, Van Deren, and Du Pont, Diana C. Photography, a Facet of Modernism. New York: Hudson Hills Press, 1986.

Coke, Van Deren. Fabricated to Be Photographed, November 16-December 30, 1979. San Francisco: San Francisco Museum of Modern Art 1979, pp. 20-21.

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