The Dexter Portfolio
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Portfolio
The Dexter Portfolio
1971
Portfolio with gelatin silver prints
3/50
Overall: 41.5 x 37.5 x 2.8 cm
1972.0123.0001-0010
Description10 gelatin silver contact prints of people in the small southeastern Michigan town of Dexter. In 1971 Phil Davis sought to document the people of "Smalltown" America and their businesses "in as simple and direct a manner as possible." He used an 8" x 10" large format view camera to photograph his subjects. Both his introductory text and his images suggest Davis's respect for the human subject; he intentionally uses the cumbersome large-format camera, as opposed to a smaller and faster camera, to give the people he photographs time to compose themselves as they wish to be seen. In a way, the portfolio is Davis's elegy to the inevitable loss of Dexter's small-town charm as he sees the encroachment of urban planning and super-highways. The ten prints are each mounted on matboard and housed in a gray clamshell box. A black title page with "THE DEXTER PORTFOLIO" and the artist's name is pasted to the cover, but it shows severe burn marks from prolonged light exposure. The portfolio is number 3 in an edition of 50, and the title page is signed by the artist. The interior condition is good, but the exterior condition is fair, with visible signs of warping in the cardboard and the burn mark.
