Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “1:00; 2:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “1:00; 2:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “SE-NW” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “SE-NW” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 2PM Capricornus SW-NE; Aug 31 3PM Capricornus SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 2PM Capricornus SW-NE; Aug 31 3PM Capricornus SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “3:00; 4:00 SE-NW” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “3:00; 4:00 SE-NW” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “11:00; 12:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “11:00; 12:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 4PM Capricornus SW-NE; Sept 8 5PM SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 4PM Capricornus SW-NE; Sept 8 5PM SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “SE-NW 10:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “SE-NW 10:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 4pm Perseus E-W; Sept 8 5PM Perseus E-W” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 4pm Perseus E-W; Sept 8 5PM Perseus E-W” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “1:00; 2:00; 3:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “1:00; 2:00; 3:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Sept 9 E-W 6:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Sept 9 E-W 6:00” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 12:00 Capricornus SW-NE; Aug 31 1PM Capricornus SW-NE”(ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 12:00 Capricornus SW-NE; Aug 31 1PM Capricornus SW-NE”(ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Sept 9 6PM Capri SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Sept 9 6PM Capri SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 10AM Capricornus SW-NE; Aug 31 11AM SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “Aug 31 10AM Capricornus SW-NE; Aug 31 11AM SW-NE” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
12 x 9 in. (30.5 x 22.9 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “6:00 N-S Sept 9” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt, Sun Tunnels photo study collage: “6:00 N-S Sept 9” (ca. 1975)
Photo collage, graphite pencil, and tape on paper
9 x 12 in. (22.9 x 30.5 cm)
© Holt/Smithson Foundation / Licensed by Artists Rights Society, New York
Nancy Holt developed the idea for her landmark earthwork Sun Tunnels over three years between 1973 and 1976. Part of the process involved using cardboard tubes to model potential configurations for Sun Tunnels and then photographing these models to understand the shifting shadows and scale of the earthwork. In these photo study collages from 1975, we see Holt experimenting with the configuration of the constellations cut into the tops of the tunnels and the orientation of the tunnels to the sun. Each group of images simulates the effect of the shadow patterns cast by the tunnels at different times of day.
Written in the margins of each photo study collage are notes about the orientation, the time of day and year, and the constellation Holt was testing in each series. Through this expansive series of collages begin to see patterns emerge in Holt's studio practice—illustrating her systematic approach to making sculpture, directly informed by her background and interest in natural science, photography, and light.
On July 14, 1976 Nancy Holt charted the evolving light and shadow falling to the interior space of one of the cylinders forming her landmark earthwork Sun Tunnels (1973-76). Every half hour, between 6:30 a.m.
In a remote valley of Utah’s Great Basin Desert, Holt’s massive Sun Tunnels looms along the horizon, visible from over a mile away. The four concrete structures are arranged in a cross formation, positioned precisely to frame the sun as it rises and sets during the summer and winter solstices. Small holes are configured in the concrete to cast projections of constellations along the tunnels’ interior; Draco, Perseus, Columba, and Capricorn materialize out of sunlight, their patterns illuminated upon the viewer inside.
Nancy Holt developed the idea for her landmark earthwork Sun Tunnels over three years between 1973 and 1976. Part of the process involved using cardboard tubes to model potential configurations for Sun Tunnels, and then photographing these models to understand the shifting shadows and scale of the earthwork. In these photo studies from 1975 we see Holt experimenting with the layout of the tunnels, trying out sizes and configurations of the constellations in the roof of the tunnels, and simulating the effect of constricting vision through the sculpture to frame the landscape.
Twelve photographs of the horizon line correspond to twelve separate angles of sight, a foreshadowing of what will be the views from Holt’s majestic earthwork, Sun Tunnels. The photographs are mounted on paper and demarcated with cardinal direction, as well as the geographical landmarks featured within them. The drawing is both a preparatory tool and an allusion to Holt’s conceptual meditations; the lines radiating from the center suggest an infinite path of sight, while the photographs fragment the view, limiting us to a constructed experience of the landscape.
