Paul Outerbridge

After graduating from the Cutler School, Outerbridge did not pursue a university education, but instead took classes in life drawing and anatomy at the Art Students’ League in New York.

Determined to pursue an artistic profession despite discouragement from his father, Outerbridge began to do some freelance illustration work, such as designing a cover for Judge magazine and various posters for Wintergarden Review.

It was in Oregon that Outerbridge found his passion for photography, as his job there involved taking numerous photographs for documentary purposes.

[citation needed] In the summer of 1921, Outerbridge began to quickly produce photographs of everyday objects, such as a bowl of eggs, milk bottles, or light bulbs.

[1]: 9  Outerbridge had a unique conceptual approach to still life photography, as his manipulation of light, shadow, planes, and shapes produced a simultaneous tension and balance in his works.

[2]: 2  French painter and sculptor Marcel Duchamp saw Ide Collar and was immediately impressed by its abstract qualities and its similarity to the "readymade" object.

[citation needed] The skill of Outerbridge’s still life photography lies in his strategic manipulation and design of shadows and light; the artist used these as kinetic elements in his photographs, more than just byproducts of the objects themselves.

[2]: 3  Outerbridge contact-printed most of his early still-life photographs in palladium or platinum, which gave them a matte appearance and wide tonal range.

While still in Paris, Outerbridge and mannequin manufacturer Mason Siegel set about creating the “world’s greatest photographic studio.

Later in 1929, Outerbridge returned to New York City and began to research different types of color photographic processes, including the tri-color carbro technique.

[4] He frequently ran into conflicts with the photography company Eastman Kodak over the ban on nipples and pubic hair in publicly published photographs.

[1]: 19  Outerbridge defended his nude photographs, and stated that the censorship of certain body parts gave innocent pictures unnecessary pornographic connotations.

[5][2]: 18  In 1950 he and Lois separated briefly and Outerbridge began to travel to countries such as Mexico, Uruguay, and Argentina, hoping to venture into photojournalism, but with little success.