Item #140940842 The Stuffed Bear Photography of Gloria Alten. Gloria Alten.
The Stuffed Bear Photography of Gloria Alten
The Stuffed Bear Photography of Gloria Alten
The Stuffed Bear Photography of Gloria Alten
The Stuffed Bear Photography of Gloria Alten

The Stuffed Bear Photography of Gloria Alten

[Lake Oswego, Oregon]: [Gloria Alten], [ca. 1983-84].

Four linear inches of loose 4”x6” drugstore prints intended by the artist to make blank greeting cards with; some duplicates and many are near-duplicates—original photographs repetitively taken of the same scene but slightly different. [With] 100 completed greeting cards: 7.5”x5.5”folded sheets with original photograph pasted on front, most hand-titled and/or signed by the artist; with blank envelope in plastic sleeve. [With] Three Polaroid images.


Portland-area artist Gloria Alten (1923-2014) created a line of greeting cards she illustrated by photographing scenes with stuffed bears, for what appears to be her long-running project entitled “Glances.” Here, her process is somewhat visible; with the finished product presented alongside the rejected pictures one can begin to notice the difference between nearly identical shots. A slightly different lighting pattern on a scene can change the mood completely.


Many scenes were arranged by month—February is Valentine’s Day, April is tax time, and so on. Often a bear is seen wearing an “I Love Oregon” shirt and occasionally there is a Portland-area theme.
Overall, an odd collection of images in which the photographer seems to approach with certain earnestness. For example, a scene for February, 1984 includes a copy of George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four. A book so over-used as shorthand for dystopia is here placed next to a smiling stuffed bear without the slightest hint of irony, as if Alten is happily enjoying the coincidence.
. Item #140940842

Price: $500.00