Aaron Siskind 1903-1991

mounted to Brudno illustration board, signed, titled 'Kentucky,' and dated by the photographer in red marker on the reverse, matted, 1951

The photographer to Joseph Jachna

Acquired from the above by Jeffrey Gilbert, Chicago

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

Acquired by Nancy Richardson from the above, 1997

Other prints of this image:

Aaron Siskind, Photographs (New York, 1959), pl. 46

Carl Chiarenza, Aaron Siskind: Pleasures and Terrors (Boston, 1982), fig. 102

This early exhibition print is on double-weight paper with a glossy surface. The print is essentially in excellent condition. There is a faint ¾-inch indentation in the upper portion of the image which is only visible on close examination under raking light. It is mounted to thick Brudno illustration board. A modern overmat has been attached to the original mount with double-sided tape. Strips of fabric tape are affixed to three of the mount's edges on the reverse. We have based our dating of this print upon the appearance of the paper, as well as the fact that it is mounted to Brudno board, which Siskind is known to have used in the 1950s. Brudno board was produced by the Brudno Art Supply Company in Chicago, where Siskind taught at the Institute of Design beginning in 1951. This print does not appear to fluoresce when examined under a black light.
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This photograph was originally in the collection of the photographer Joseph Jachna (b. 1935), a photographer, teacher, and former student of Aaron Siskind.  Jachna first attended Chicago's esteemed Institute of Design in 1953 on a newspaper carrier's scholarship.  After a hiatus, he enrolled again in 1955, studying under Siskind, Harry Callahan, and Frederick Sommer, and earning his bachelor's degree in 1958.  When Callahan left the ID to teach at the Rhode Island School of Design in 1961, Siskind urged that Jachna be hired.  Siskind and Jachna taught in tandem until 1969, when Jachna was hired to teach at the University of Illinois.  Jachna's reminiscence of working alongside Siskind, entitled A Letter for Aaron, appears in Aaron Siskind, published by the Stephen Daiter Gallery (Chicago, 2002, p. 12). 

This print of Kentucky 13 is mounted to a sturdy sheet of Brudno illustration board, which was produced by the Brudno Art Supply Company in Chicago.  Siskind began mounting his photographs on Brudno board shortly after his arrival in Chicago to teach at the Institute of Design.