ABOUT THIS COLLECTION  
Margolies (1940-2016) is considered the country’s foremost photographer of vernacular architecture—the coffee shops shaped like coffee pots; the gas station shaped like a dinosaur; and the motels that took the shape of everything from wigwams to zeppelins. Starting in 1969 and for a period of 40 years, Margolies traveled 100,000 miles across the contiguous 48 states to document the architecture and signage of buildings that expressed the ingenuity and eccentricity of America’s entrepreneurial energy after World War II. These “exclamation points” on the landscape, few and far between today, were gradually put out of business by air travel, interstate highways and big-box stores. Margolies produced a number of richly illustrated books from his photographs, including “John Margolies: Roadside America” (2010). While his work helped put some roadside buildings on the National Register of Historic Places, in many cases the only remaining record of these buildings is on Margolies' film.   
 
COLLECTION DETAILS
Series title: Roadside America
Series size: 12 artworks
Edition: Limited edition of 1000
Proof of Ownership: Certification on the Ethereum blockchain under the ERC1155 protocol. Each artwork is delivered privately and directly to collectors as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that guarrante proof of ownership.
Format: Pieces consist of PNG files sized 2160x3840 pixels - 150 dpi.
Medium: Photography
Artwork materials:  Photographic paper
Contract Address: 0x495f947276749ce646f68ac8c248420045cb7b5e
ID: 2749212597480566...
 
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Born in New Canaan, CT., Margolies developed a love for vernacular architecture sitting in the backseat of his parents’ car on road trips.  At the age of 29, he began his journey to document that architecture with his camera on trips as long as eight weeks at a stretch. Shooting with a 35mm Canon FT along with ASA 25 film to obtain maximum color saturation that you see in his photographs, he captured his subjects with as little artistic intervention as possible. He shot them all against a cloudless blue sky early in the morning,, without any distractions like people, litter (he carried a broom in his car to sweep any debris), or even parked cars (with a few exceptions). His images are straightforward (sometimes shot at an angle to give a better view of its details) and unsentimental, with a tight edge-to-edge crop that indicates what he exactly wanted you to see. “I would go out by myself and I’d turn myself into a camera. Go in a hotel room and collapse, and get up the next morning and do it again and again and again. And I loved it,” he said.
 
COLLECTION CREDITS
Historical curatorship: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Artwork: John Margolies
Year of original publication: 1969
Post-production: HARI - Historical Art Research Institute (HARI Editions)
Digital art supervisor: Marie-Lou Desmeules
Editorial: Braden Phillips
Historical research: Evangelos Rosios, Braden Phillips
Executive production: Victor Zabrockis
 
RIGHTS OVERVIEW
Source of artwork: Library of Congress
Underlying work rights: No Known Restrictions
Digital copyrights: No additional rights