Coffee Cup, Knife and Book
1980 · Oil on gelatin silver print
10 5/8 x 13 3/4" (27.7 x 35.1 cm)
Museum of Modern Art
WATTS INDEXThe canonical database of visual culture
Duane Michals
1932
WA-00003875
Photography
Representation
None documented
0
Institutional Exhibitions
11
Works in Collection
24
Assets Indexed
13
Authority-backed Facts
0
Publications Referenced
60%
Profile Completeness
Cultural Positioning
Influence Graph
No influence edges encoded yet.
Authority Records (2)
Field Verification (6 fields)
4 cross-verified · 2 single-source
- NationalityWikidata + Duplicate Merge+1· 92%✓
- Birth yearWikidata + Duplicate Merge+1· 92%✓
- Primary mediumDuplicate Merge + Gallery· 85%✓
- BiographyDuplicate Merge + Gallery· 85%✓
- LocationWikidata + Gallery· 80%
- Profile imageGallery· 60%
Source Registry (3)
- Christies-ArtsyTier 3 · Scraped/inferred100%
- MoMA bulk 2026-05-04Tier 1 · Institutional92%
- Paula-CooperTier 3 · Scraped/inferred60%
About
Why this artist matters now
Duane Michals works in sequential photography, arranging multi-frame narratives that unfold across a series of images rather than through a single decisive moment. Handwritten text appears directly on his prints, threading philosophical and emotional inquiry into the visual surface itself. Born in 1932, he developed this approach against the grain of documentary and fine art photography conventions, turning the medium toward interior states, mortality, identity, and the metaphysical. His sequences treat photography less as record than as a vehicle for storytelling and psychological investigation.
Source: Christies Artsy · Trust score: 100% · Updated 1mo ago
Graph relationships
Taste overlap and adjacency
Movement
—
Medium
Photography
Related Artists
6 in graph
Institutional
Museum Collections
Canonical record
Artworks (11)
View all 11 artworks →
Artwork sources (3)
11 published of 18 catalogued · 10 with image
- MoMA7 publishedof 14 catalogued10 img
- The Met3 published
- Cleveland Museum of Art1 published
Per-Artwork Provenance Chains (top 1)
1 entries · 1 sources
- 1968 · Cleveland · 1 provUrl Pattern Extraction 2026-05-27·accession_number
Record
Images
Relationships
3Institutional
Representation & Collections
In collection
The Metropolitan Museum of Art
In collection
Cleveland Museum of Art
Market
Auction sale history
Houses that have sold works by this artist at auction
Background
Education
Parsons School of Design
Visual Arts
University of Denver
Visual Arts
McKeesport Area High School
Visual Arts
Record
Exhibitions and timeline
No exhibitions or timeline entries yet