Museum of Modern Art acquires first Eric Francis photo

The Museum of Modern Art (MOMA) said Monday that it had acquired its first Eric Francis photograph, “Sacred Union.”

"Sacred Union" by Eric Francis was donated to the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection last month. Click image to enlarge.
"Sacred Union" by Eric Francis was purchased from Mr. Francis and donated to the Museum of Modern Art's permanent collection last month. Click image to enlarge.

British ski mogul Butley Waterfield III purchased the piece from Mr. Francis in early 2009 for $3.1 million, and donated it to the museum’s permanent collection last week. A spokesman for Mr. Waterfield had no comment. But the spokesman’s spokesman said, “You’re not going to hang up anything like this in England, not even at the Tate Modern, so everyone figured it would be better off in New York.”

“We don’t really understand it,” said MOMA’s photography curator, Wilma Bernstein. “However, our committee decided that it seems to be making an important comment. This is precisely the criteria we are looking for in our permanent photography collection.”

“We think it’s a reference to Hitchcock,” said Anna Sofai, a professor of photography at the Rochester Institute of Technology.

Photographer Gregory Crewdson, who graduated one year ahead of Mr. Francis from John Dewey High School in Brooklyn, described the photo as where “Hieronymus Bosch meets Betty Dodson.”

“He is definitely making a statement about society. Many people feel this way, but they don’t have the words for it. I hope they hang this thing somewhere that people can actually see it.

“But he should really print it with us,” Crewdson added. “We could get it bigger than 600 pixels wide.”

“It seems more postmodern than modern,” said Richard Tarnas, author of Cosmos & Psyche. “But it also reflects the profound cultural tension associated with the Saturn-Uranus opposition.”

14 thoughts on “Museum of Modern Art acquires first Eric Francis photo”

  1. So, what about some acreage, and some freaks to cultivate the heritage of this beautiful environment!? I think we may be able to squeeze in a “bit” of FOOD, SHELTER, HEALTH, EDUCATION, and ENTERTAINMENT within a 3 mil budget, eh?! At least within our local spheres…?

    You can freakin’ imagine man! It’s a blast of a vision!

    If only I had even the slightest business sense…. (and honestly I tried on a ten acre commune years ago,… I was a child, and growing up, though. ) (To specify, a child of 22 solar rotations…. 4 year experiment.)

    I’m honestly waiting for one of US, (you or I), (and this courses out to all,… is Not pointed), to establish…..

    Allright, had to regather, through projection, some bearing.

    We work through our means. I respect your channel, always have. (If you unfold it, or want to play, on the cutting age of matter…. throw it out!, WE can dig it.)

    With very little to nothing having been said… Good Luck Bro, and keep it flowin’!

    With all the sexiness, love, and beauty in the BIG OL’ “U”!!!

    Jere

  2. Hmmm, both the “couple” and the dildo are in glass bubbles… very interesting statement! [Though the dildo is open ended, so to speak…]

    Where’s the juice?

  3. This, by reply form to our Webmaster:

    I think this piece makes the entire canon of Robert Mapplethorpe look like the work of cavemen pornographers.

    Nice use of negative space, by the way.

  4. I’ve grown a bit tired of too much travel…Paris, London, Brussels, it all starts to look the same after a while. I’m looking at a little place in Vermont, friendly driving distance.

  5. I think this piece makes the entire canon of Robert Mapplethorpe look like the work of cavemen pornographers.

    Nice use of negative space, by the way.

  6. Eric Dear:

    Once the Museum has wired the 3.1m to your account in the Caymans, are you going abroad to the villa or will you just summer on the Eastern seaboard?

  7. Via comment form to our Webmaster:

    Did you really get the $3.1 million for this! How absolutely exciting and wonderful if you did. It certainly is a great picture! Congrats!!

  8. Via email…

    Congratulations, Eric!
    And you managed to become a famous artist
    pre-posthumously too. Quite a feat.
    But isn’t it soooo sad that so many people who
    you’d think would be rather well-educated aren’tВ 
    getting your piece? Doesn’t it make you want
    to hand out copies of The Chalice and the Blade?
    Are we so detached from who we are that we
    don’t recognize our archetypes anymore?
    Then, to top it off, for that Rochester woman to
    make a connection–but to Hitchcock???!
    Murder, death, kill. Murder, death, kill. . . .
    Vertigo.

  9. I would love to purchase this myself. Would MOMA consider offers? It’s FABULOUS. So meaningful and at the same time, true beauty.

  10. Stormi:

    How true, lilac is lovely. But I am struck by the curvilineature of the dildo and its strikingly remarkable resemblance to Frank Stella’s gigantic work in the 70s for MoMA.

    The jujeune bridal couple’s diminution is a sharp witticism on the work of Jeff Koons’. And the object reeks of the Dada school, which has never gone away.

  11. to bee, or not to bee…curves are the question…

    the lilac is a lovely compliment to the fool blooms.

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