(Cleveland, Ohio, 1899 - 1986, Hanover, New Hampshire)
1929 (printed 1945)
Gelatin silver print
10 x 8 in. (25.4 x 20.3 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Therese and Murray Weiss
2009.109
To pay his bills, the artist Ralph Steiner worked as a freelance advertising and magazine photographer. Humor helped him cope with the pressures and confines of commercial work. He wrote that this image, which he made on assignment, “…is what I did to avoid certification to a mental hospital when told to photograph a plate of ham and eggs. In God’s name how does one photograph a plate of ham and eggs? My escape was to amuse myself.”