21st Century Digital #20 |
Photo by Carol M. Highsmith – Nelson Atkins Art Museum, Kansas City, Missouri. 2009. May 7.
Claes Oldenburg, American (b. Sweden, 1929), Coosje van Bruggen, American (b. The Netherlands, 1942-2009). Shuttlecocks, 1994. Aluminum, fiberglass-reinforced plastic, paint, h x diam: 19 feet 2 9/16 inches x 15 feet 11 7/8 inches. Purchase: acquired through the generosity of the Sosland Family, F94-1/1-4. Donald J. Hall Sculpture Park. (The Nelson Atkins Museum of Art)
A shuttlecock (also called a bird or birdie) is a high-drag projectile used in the sport of badminton. The name is from the Victorian times, when Badminton was first discovered and became popular. It has an open conical shape: the cone is formed from 16 or so overlapping feathers, usually goose or duck, embedded into a rounded cork base. The cork is covered with thin leather. To ensure that shuttlecocks rotate consistently, only feathers from the birds’ left wings are used. The shuttlecock’s shape makes it extremely aerodynamically stable. Regardless of initial orientation, it will turn to fly cork first, and remain in the cork-first orientation. The name ‘shuttlecock’ is frequently shortened to shuttle. The “shuttle” part of the name was probably derived from its back-and-forth motion during the game, resembling the shuttle of a loom; the “cock” part of the name was probably derived from the resemblance of the feathers to those on a cockerel. (Wikipedia)
Highsmith, Carol M, photographer. Photograph retrieved from the Library of Congress, www.loc.gov/pictures/item/2010630148/. (Accessed March 03, 2017.)
Medium: 1 photograph : digital, TIFF file, color.
Highsmith, a distinguished and richly published American photographer, has donated her work to the Library of Congress since 1992. Starting in 2002, Highsmith provided scans or photographs she shot digitally with new donations to allow rapid online access throughout the world. Her generosity in dedicating the rights to the American people for copyright free access also makes this Archive a very special visual resource.
Note – This image has been digitally adjusted for one or more of the following:
– fade correction,
– color, contrast, and/or saturation enhancement
– selected spot and/or scratch removal
– cropped for composition and/or to accentuate subject matter
– straighten image
