Lot 45
  • 45

Aaron Siskind 1903-1991

Estimate
15,000 - 25,000 USD
bidding is closed

Description

  • Aaron Siskind
  • 'gloucester 1h' (glove)
flush-mounted, signed, titled, dated, and annotated '(vintage print)' by the photographer in pencil, and dated '1943' (crossed out) by him in ink on the reverse, matted, 1944, probably printed in the 1950s

Provenance

The photographer to a student

Acquired from the above by Ehlers/Caudill Gallery, Chicago, circa 1996

To Andrew Roth at Glenn Horowitz Bookseller, East Hampton, New York

Acquired by Nancy Richardson from the above, 1997

Literature

Other prints of this image (all variant croppings):

Aaron Siskind, Photographs (New York, 1959), pl. 3

Carl Chiarenza, Aaron Siskind: Pleasures and Terrors (Boston, 1982), pl. 129

James Rhem, Aaron Siskind 55 (New York, 2003), unpaginated

Jan Howard, Interior Drama: Aaron Siskind's Photographs of the 1940s (Rhode Island School of Design, 2003), cover and p. 35

Condition

This photograph is on double weight paper with a somewhat glossy surface. It is flush-mounted to thin stiff illustration board. There is general light wear and some minor chipping of the emulsion around the print's edges. Otherwise, it is in near excellent condition. The reverse of the mount has 6 swatches of paper tape on the corners. When examined under a black light, the print appears to fluoresce very faintly. This suggests that, Siskind's "vintage print" annotation notwithstanding, this may be a print made somewhat later than the date of the negative. Based upon the look of the paper, the style of presentation, and the very limited amount of fluorescence, we feel it likely that this is a print made in the 1950s.
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

A native of New York City, Aaron Siskind began visiting New England in the early 1930s, shortly after he had taken up photography at the age of 26.  When his job as a public school teacher allowed, Siskind photographed on the beaches and in the towns of Martha's Vineyard and along the north shore of Massachusetts.  At the time, much of his New York work was done in the documentary style espoused by the Photo League, of which he was a member.  Yet, even his earliest New England work, with its concentration on natural forms, looks forward to the abstractions that would follow in the 1940s (cf. Chiarenza, pls. 9 and 10). 

In the summer of 1943, wartime gas rationing forced Siskind to sell his car, limiting his ability to make photographic excursions.  He took advantage of the regular bus service between New York and Gloucester, Massachusetts, an old fishing village on the state's north shore.  While he made few exposures on his initial trip, he explored the place thoroughly.  When he returned to Gloucester in 1944, he was prepared to make the most of his time there and worked intently on photographing the area he had scouted the previous summer.  His images from this time show a focus on rocks, as well as the weathered sides of wooden boats and buildings, and the occasional street scene.  It was during this 1944 trip that Siskind took one of his best-known photographs, Gloucester 1H, offered here, of a worn glove set against the background of a weathered wooden wharf.  With its literal account of its subject, the photograph is not without a documentary aspect.  Yet, in the isolation of the only partly-recognizable central object, the photograph has much in common with the collagistic photographs of found objects being made concurrently by Siskind's friend, and later colleague, Frederick Sommer.