Lot 157
  • 157

Karl Struss

Estimate
30,000 - 50,000 USD
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Description

  • Karl Struss
  • 'metropolitan tower--twilight'
platinum print, signed and dated by the photographer in pencil on the image, titled and annotated 'Platinum print' by him in pencil and with his 'Hollywood, Calif.' studio stamp on the reverse, tipped at three corners to a Japan tissue mount, signed and dated by the photographer in pencil on the tissue mount; accompanied by a secondary mount, titled and annotated 'Platinum' by the photographer in ink and with his 'Hollywood Calif.' studio stamp and exhibition stamps and labels on the reverse, matted, framed, 1909

Provenance

Christie's East, 6 May 1985, Sale 5879, Lot 228

Robert Miller Gallery, New York

Exhibited

Buffalo, National Salon, February 1922

Los Angeles, Camera Pictorialists of Los Angeles, Sixth International Salon, 1922

San Francisco, Pictorial Photographic Society of San Francisco, San Francisco Salon, 1922

New York, Museum of the City of New York, Views of New York--Old and New exhibited by Pictorial Photographers of America, November 1936

Literature

Another print of this image:

Susan and John Harvith, Karl Struss: Man with a Camera (Michigan, Cranbrook Academy of Art/Museum, 1976, in conjunction with the exhibition), pl. 33

Condition

This exhibition print, with its thick, dark, moody blacks, and faint creamy highlights, is in generally very good condition. Upon close inspection, there is evidence of stress at the corners from the adhesive used to tip the photograph to the tissue mount. At the top left corner, there is a small, 1/8-inch oval loss, that has been filled from the reverse and inpainted. The print surface has some light rubbing that is most evident in the midtones. This rubbing blends in with the haziness of the sky and is not visible at a normal viewing distance. The tissue mount and secondary mount are in generally excellent condition.
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Catalogue Note

As of this writing, it is believed that the print of Karl Struss's Metropolitan Tower---Twilight offered here is the only print of the image in this large exhibition format to appear at auction.  The exhibition labels on the reverse document the print's inclusion in several 1922 photography salons: the National Salon, Buffalo; the Sixth International Salon, Los Angeles; and the San Francisco Salon.  This print was also included in Views of New York---Old and New at the Museum of the City of New York in 1936.   

When Metropolitan Tower---Twilight was taken in 1909, it depicted what was, for a brief moment, the world's tallest building.  Commissioned by Metropolitan Life's president John Rogers Hegeman, the tower was designed by architect Napoleon Le Brun in the Neo-Renaissance style and modeled after the Campanile of St. Mark's in Venice.  Upon completion of the tower's gold cupola, Struss photographed the new building while standing eleven blocks away on the balustrade of B. Altman's Department Store.  

The metropolis was a favorite subject of the Pictorialist photographers, who captured its architecture and skyline at different times of day or night, and with varying atmospheric effects.  Metropolitan Tower---Twilight reflects Struss's interest in soft-focus views of New York's turn-of-the-century building boom, which included the city's changing skyline.  Typical of his New York work, Metropolitan Tower---Twilight uses an object in the foreground to frame a distant object, thereby collapsing the space between them.  His affinity for this approach led him to develop the Struss Pictorial Lens.  The lens doubled the standard focal length for a 4 x 5-inch negative, producing a telephoto effect that simplified and reduced the illusion of depth in his photographs. 

Struss continued to work in New York City, producing images for Vogue, Vanity Fair, and Harper's Bazaar, until the outbreak of World War I.  After a two-year stint in the military, Struss moved to Los Angeles where he worked for famed filmmaker Cecil B. DeMille, first as a still photographer, and later as a cinematographer.