Paul Strand

The photographer, Michael Hoffman as agent

Light Gallery, New York, 1975

Frank Kolodny, New Jersey

Helios Arts, Inc., New York

Nina Rosenwald, New York

Swann Galleries, 8 December 1977, Sale 1083, Lot 306

Helios Arts, Inc., New York

Mark Kelman Works of Art, New York, 1978

Argus Ltd., 29 April 1978, Lot 440

Collection of John and Lou Glasse, Poughkeepsie

By descent to the present owner

Paul Strand, A Retrospective Monograph, The Years 1915-1946 (Millerton, 1971), p. 66 

According to Paul Strand authority, Anthony Montoya, only two early platinum prints of Driftwood exist. Later gelatin silver prints are in the collections of the High Museum of Art, Atlanta, and the Philadelphia Museum of Art.

While Strand variously dated and titled this image throughout his lifetime, it was almost certainly taken in Georgetown Island, Maine during the summer of 1927 or 1928. Similar compositions of driftwood, sea-washed rocks, and tree stumps were made at that time with the same 8x10-inch camera. 

In 1932, Strand showed close-up photographs of driftwood at An American Place in his joint exhibition with his first wife, the painter Rebecca Strand. The following year, composer Carlos Chávez, head of the fine arts department in the Secretaría de Educación Pública in Mexico City, arranged for Strand’s one-man exhibition, Exhibición de la obra de la artista norteamericano Paul Strand at the Sala de Arte de la Secretaría de Educación in Mexico City in February 1933. According to Montoya, a print of this image (possibly the photograph offered here) was shown in that exhibition.

In preparation for his mid-career retrospective at The Museum of Modern Art in 1945, Strand began selecting prints for possible inclusion. Prints in consideration were signed, titled, and dated in green ink at that time. This print remained in the photographer’s collection until 1975.