1950–1980: Works from the Collection

Marcia Resnick. Re-visions #34. 1978

Gelatin silver print, 5 1/4 × 7 3/4" (13.3 × 19.7 cm). Committee on Photography Fund. © 2026 Marcia Resnick

Artist,  Marcia Resnick: My name is Marcia Resnick.

This picture is “Not wanting to be publicly kissed by a boy, she avoided games of spin-the-bottle.” I dreaded the party game spin the bottle. I would hide if possible.

The way I learned the facts of life was on a class trip to the Tasty Bread Factory. I guess it was, like, the third grade. And the whole class walked through a room-sized oven, and while we were really hot, someone told a dirty joke and I didn't get it. And so somebody said, “You mean you don't know the facts of life?” And then somebody explained it to me, and subsequently, I was afraid of boys.

I was always a visual person. And I associated writing with making visual marks on paper, which is another kind of drawing. Both words and images are visual stimuli, and when considered together, they provide a layering of meanings. In my work, words amplify the truth implicit in the image and lend irony to that truth.