Aaron Siskind

signed, titled, and annotated in pencil on the reverse, 1951, probably printed in the 1950s or 1960s (Pleasures and Terrors, pl. 146, cropped variant)

This print is on double-weight paper with a semi-glossy surface. It is in generally excellent condition. When examined under ultraviolet light, this print appears to fluoresce slightly but perceptibly. This photograph bears the characteristics of Siskind's printing style in the 1950s and 1960s. It lacks the high degree of contrast that he came to favor in the 1970s and 1980s, a style which can sometimes give his later prints a stark look. The paper that the photograph is printed on is very slightly warm in tone (in contrast to the cool-toned papers Siskind utilized in the 1970s and 80s), and has a wide range of gray tones, which Siskind exploits to great effect in this detail-filled and nuanced print. Given these characteristics, and the fact that its level of apparent fluorescence under ultraviolet light is low, it is very likely that this print was made in the 1950s or 1960s. In addition to Siskind's signature and printing notations on the reverse of this photograph is the annotation, 'George Eastman Mon. / Aaron Siskind.' This is an apparent reference to the Eastman House's 1965 Siskind monograph, published in conjunction with its exhibition of the photographer's work in that year.
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The photograph offered here may be unique in this cropping.  All of the references in the Siskind literature cited below reproduce versions of the image that are substantially squarer than this print.  The present print is more panoramic in format, and shows a greater portion of the original negative on all edges.  There is substantially more visual information in the left portion of this print, showing a continuation of the tar-paper wall, as well as – very faintly – a portion of an adjacent building.  While prints of this image have appeared on the auction market, none of them appear to share this print's distinctive cropping. 

Variant croppings of the photograph offered here are reproduced in the following important monographs and studies on Siskind's work: 

Aaron Siskind Photographer (George Eastman House, 1965), unpaginated

Aaron Siskind, Pleasures and Terrors (New York, 1982), p. 134, pl. 146

Aaron Siskind: Order with the Tensions Continuing (Stephen Daiter Gallery, 2003), p. 30

Walker Evans & Company (The Museum of Modern Art, 2000), p. 230, pl. 289