Bea Nettles
American, born 1946
Mirror on the Coastline
INV-2698
Bea Nettles
American, born 19461976
Mirror on the Coastline
Bea Nettles American, born 1946 →photographyphotograph
Date
1976
Medium
Gum bichromate print [Kwik print]
Dimensions
38.1 × 45.8 cm (15 × 18 in.)
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Location
Chicago, IL
Credit
Gift of the artist
In Mirror on the Coastline, Bea Nettles layers the reflection of mauve flowers in a mirror over an idyllic scene of crashing waves, referencing her upbringing in coastal Florida. She made the picture using Kwik Print, a commercial process that uses vinyl sheets coated with light-sensitive dyes. Nettles was an early adopter of this technology, which was an updated version of an antiquated process. The technique allows color to be applied in layers, giving this photograph a hazy, ethereal quality.
Also notable
Works in the same vein
![And a Special Fear for My Loved Ones, from The Black Woman [formerly The Negro Woman] (published 1946-47)](https://www.artic.edu/iiif/2/431acafc-2f01-28f1-dbfc-2259708271a7/full/400,/0/default.jpg)