Aaron Siskind

large-format, mounted to Brudno illustration board, signed, titled, and dated by the photographer in red ink on the reverse, matted, 1952

Sotheby's New York, 17 October 1990, Sale 6073, Lot 606

Acquired by the present owner from the above 

Another print of this image:

Aaron Siskind, Photographs (New York, 1959), pl. 41

This photograph is in generally good condition. There is a 1/4-inch chip in the emulsion in the lower left edge that has been stabilized. Visible in raking light are: several circular indentations in the upper portion of the print; 3 to 4 barely visible pinpoint ink deposits in the upper right quadrant; and various pinpoint indentations throughout, none of which breaks the emulsion. The Brudno illustration board mount is soiled on the recto. The corners are bumped, and there is wear at the edges. A large portion of the upper left corner was bent and has been repaired, but this does not affect the image. On the reverse of the mount, there are nicks, creases and soiling, especially along the edges.
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.

The large size of the photograph offered here indicates that it was almost certainly intended by Siskind for exhibition.  The image was made in 1952, shortly after Siskind had taken up his position as a teacher of photography at the Chicago's Institute of Design, a job offered to him by his close friend, Harry Callahan.  Siskind's presence at the Institute afforded him access to the school's darkrooms, where he would have been better able to make a large-format print than in his previous facilities in New York City.  The print may possibly have been made for one of Siskind's exhibitions at Charles Egan's gallery in New York City (see Lot 22A), or for a faculty exhibition at the Institute of Design.  As is characteristic of Siskind's early work in Chicago, this print is mounted to a sturdy sheet of Brudno illustration board, which was produced by the city's Brudno Art Supply Company.   

As with another early Siskind photograph offered in this catalogue (Lot 22A), Chicago was reproduced in his first monograph, Photographs, published in 1959. The art critic Harold Rosenberg, who wrote the book's introduction, was an early champion of the group of painters who came to be known as the Abstract Expressionists.  As such, he was the ideal writer to tackle the work of Siskind, whose kinship to painters like Willem de Kooning and Barnett Newman was significant.   Rosenberg wrote of the photographs in the book,

'One will be struck by the resemblance of these photos to reproductions of advanced contemporary paintings.  Aaron Siskind's collection is like the catalogue of a show of "best Americans" that may take place next month in a leading New York art gallery.  Here are the dual picture planes, the calligraphy, the post-Cubist balances, the free strokes and aerial perspectives, the accidental landscapes, galaxies hinted in stains, of half a dozen vanguard styles.  Illuminated by these, the camera's eye has plucked from fences, beaches, rocks, strips of material, images of possible canvases as if someone had had the ingenuity to paint them.  Perhaps someone will paint them.  Certainly they contain the intelligence of painting from which many painters can profit.'